Hi-Chew – Cherry Yogurt

Cherry flavour is a polarizing one for sure. Well, at least in the west it is. Most people will tell you that they don’t taste like actual cherries, and worst yet that it usually tastes like cough syrup. Sometimes it’s artificial to the point that you know what you’re eating is unnatural and should not be consumed, and so it gets a pretty bad rap.

I myself tend to teeter totter on this flavour – sometimes I love it, sometimes I really do feel like I’m poisoning myself. That being said, it’s never been to the point where I think to myself, “gross, I can’t eat this flavour”. The worse it comes to is that I begrudgingly put it in my mouth and chew, but a weird twisted part of me sort of enjoys that strong, almost medicinal flavour of western cherries.

While I still see some of that in flavours from Asia, it doesn’t seem as noticeable or prevalent. The cherries tend to have a more floral flavour over there, but still a somewhat similar profile in the sense that it’s still somewhat polarizing. Maybe cherry as a flavour isn’t as popular over there. I also still have to wonder how popular cherry is, by the mere fact that it’s a mainstay in most fruit flavour assortments.

These are tasty – the flavour is the combination of cherry and yogurt. In this case yogurt is more along the lines of yogurt drinks like Yakult or Calpis. The cherry flavour isn’t particularly tart or overly sweet, with just a slight floral flavour to it. Most of the flavour is carried by the yogurt, which on it’s own is really pleasant and slightly addictive. Tasting it makes me want more. Maybe it’s something that was programmed into me from a young age with all those Yakults…

Texture is standard Hi-Chew affair. It’s got that perfect balance of chewy, bouncy taffy like texture without being sticky or gooey. It really is the embodiment of chewing gum, except it’s not rubber and you’re allowed to swallow it after. Not that there’s much left after a while, since it sort of melts into nothingness after a while.

While I don’t take issue with cherry flavour in general, I can see how some may not like this flavour. That being said, the cherry flavour here isn’t really what you’d expect from a typical western style cherry so I imagine it will be much more tolerable for most. The yogurt also helps to give the flavour a creamy, tanginess to it which I really enjoyed.