Hi-Chew Doubles – Pineapple and Orange

When you hear about something with pineapple and orange, what do you think of, and why is it always tropical? Whether it’s a drink, or some fruit flavour product, I can almost guarantee you pictured something tropical themed. Whether you picture it with Tiki umbrellas or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the marketing gods have ingrained what a tropical punch is, that we all imagine the same things. It’s actually really scary now that I think about it…but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Well…it kind of is. In yet another flavour combination that Hi-Chew is experimenting with, this one seems to make a lot of sense, at least on paper.

As per usual, they describe the fruits the flavour is based on in way more detail than I can make sense, most likely for marketing purposes. This particular one is the marriage of Brazilian orange and Okinawa pineapple. I can’t be certain if I’ve ever had a Brazilian orange, or an Okinawa pineapple, but I can speak to them as general flavours, so I’ll do that. I get the impression a lot of people won’t be able to tell the difference either, lest they be very different from the ones you typically eat. Like the difference between a supermarket mass market grape and a concord or Kyoho grape. Man I miss those grapes.

Visually, the outer layer is clearly orange, and the inner layer is the mild, yellow colour for pineapple. This smells like all those tropical punches. I guess that’s what they were going for, what with the toucan on the packaging and what not. I’ve never gone out of my way to opt for tropical flavours, but I’ve never hated them. Unless it’s the ones that bank too hard on the orange juice base. I came for mangoes and pineapples damn it!

The outer orange layer has a very sweet, almost orange juice like quality to it. It’s tart, but doesn’t have that strong peel or rind flavour that you might find on candied oranges. It’s more like the flavour of the sweet, juicy flesh of a fresh orange. The somewhat tart, citrus flavour is quickly balanced out by the more simple, almost one note sweetness of the pineapple flavour in the centre. Not that it’s a bad thing – of the doubles flavour mash ups I’ve had, this one seems to work quite well. Pineapple on it’s own is very sweet, and sometimes cloyingly so. Having a tart citrus flavour helps balance it out and give it a nice tropical flavour to it. I’m reminded of my childhood when I would take Sugus candies and eat multiple at a time after playing with the candies like clay. The pineapple flavour is definitely bringing me back to my childhood. I guess it also goes without saying that this will probably remind others of any sort of tropical fruit punch they’ve had….ever. Something about pineapple and orange screams tropical for some reason. I had to pinch myself to check that I’m still a grown man reviewing snacks and snap back into reality. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing.

It doesn’t have a clean finish though, and the orange part in particular leaves behind a bit of an aftertaste. I guess that’s one downside of a strong orange flavour. It is indeed very strong and aromatic, and despite not having too much of the peel or rind flavour that tends to overpower other flavours, it does leave a bit of a noticeable aftertaste in the mouth. It’s a common complaint I have about a lot of strongly flavoured citrus candies. I can see how if you ate too many of these in a sitting you might get citric burn in your mouth.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about the texture that I haven’t said in other reviews. It has the signature texture that the Japanese Hi-Chews have – they are a cross between chewing gum and taffy. The best of both worlds, if you will. It has the bouncy, chewy texture that gum has when it’s still fresh and it hasn’t been sitting in your mouth for upwards of 15 minutes. But it’s like taffy in that it does get a bit softer the longer you chew, and it eventually gets smaller and melts away into nothingness. Something about their ratio of gelatin gives them a very unique, bouncy texture that is unlike anything else I’ve had so far. Not even the non-Japanese Hi-Chews can even compare. How do those crazy food chemists do it?!

All in all, I can get behind this flavour. As I said before, tropical punch is not something I gravitate or go for, but if I’m in the mood for something different, I don’t mind it. That goes for this as well – while this may not be a first pick during drafts, I’d certainly table it for a potentially third or fourth pick, assuming no one else has nabbed it by then.