Hi-Chew Premium – Red Grape
If you were to ask me where I see myself in ten years when I was a kid, writing up a formal-ish review on a chewy grape flavoured candy from Japan is probably pretty low on the list of things I would have aspired to. Life has a weird way of coming full circle and throwing all sorts of surprises at you.
No fancy fruit names or monikers here – it’s simply known as red grape. Jokes aside though, if you’ve had a Japanese red grape, you know that any marketing or buzz words are just fluff and the product speaks for itself. A lot of grape flavoured candies are based on concord grapes, but unless you have the privilege and luxury to get your hands on them, you would likely only be aware of table grapes, or the ones you get at the grocery store. Those ones just taste like water and sugar for the most part and lack distinct flavour.
Having had as much grape Hi-Chew that I have, I almost feel like I don’t need to review this, since my minds tongue can already taste it as I imagine it. It’s no exaggeration to say that my mouth waters a little just smelling these. Just as expected, the flavour is nothing short of amazing, and still amazes me they manage to get the flavour so down pat. The grape flavour hits you in the face, with the distinct aroma and the distinct tartness that you get from red grapes that helps provide a contrast against the sweetness of the juicy grape.
The texture of these premium ball shaped Hi-Chews is like chewing on a bubblegum ball, only to find it a bit bouncier in chew and also realizing with each chew that part of the candy is slowly disintegrating, so you try to stretch the chew out but it’s still doesn’t last nearly as long as you want. But maybe that’s part of what makes it so enjoyable and tasty – the fact that it’s so fleeting and temporary. While still having that signature texture of the Hi-Chew sticks, these are ever so slightly more like mochi, and I love that about these.
My biggest gripe with these is also the main selling point and what they market it as – premium. These come in a pretty small pouch, and don’t have many pieces. I’d wager that you could get at least 50% more Hi-Chew from a standard stick, for the same price point. I guess part of the cognitive dissonance makes me enjoy this that much more, again knowing how scarce and fleeting it truly is.
While I would absolutely get these again, if I was the kind of person who ate Hi-Chews with even more regularity than I already do (like once a week) I would probably opt for the stick variety. While the more mochi-like texture is really nice, it’s still a bit of a gimmick and the essence of Hi-Chew is still captured with the more budget friendly stick variety. But never, and I mean never, settle for the non-Japanese ones. It just doesn’t hit the same.
