Hi-Chew – Punishari Soda Mix
I sometimes do feel like I have aged out of soda flavoured things. Kid me would have absolutely loved the idea of this. As I am now, bitter and old, this is more of a purchase for the sake of curiosity and science, rather than pure childhood joy. But alas we move on.
This mix is a combination of ramune, grape soda, and peach soda. The assortment here is 6 grape, 6 ramune and 4 peach.
The ramune is that classic sweet, slightly citrusy soda flavour that everyone has come to know and love. Personally I am not entirely sold on it as a flavour, but that may be because I’m just getting old. I do enjoy the actual soda, but something about it in candy has a weird funky after taste to me, and that seems to be the case here. If not for that, I would say this is quite enjoyable.
Grape is very similar to ramune, but with the addition of some grape flavour. The grape flavour is really just straight forward grape flavouring, and doesn’t share too many similarities to the grape Hi-Chew that we know and love. But it does a really good job emulating what an actual grape soda tastes like, which is the main point of this right?
Peach is a new one for me, and the main reason I got this mix. This one starts off as a typical peach flavour, with the similar floral, sweet and slightly acidic notes. It’s not until I spend some time chewing that I notice it’s supposed to be a peach soda, and that realization had nothing to do with the flavour, and more with the texture. I enjoy the flavour, but it seems the peach overpowers the soda so that it’s no different flavourwise from a regular peach piece.
The texture of all of these is quite a bit softer than what I’m used to. They are no less bouncy, but they are quite soft and I’m not sure if that’s because of the formulation here, or it’s just my bag. The candy itself is very soft and has a slight gritty texture as you bite into it, from the candy pieces which I assume were supposed to help give it a fizzy quality to it. There is also a soft gummy hidden within the centre. I say hidden but even visually you can see them all over the place. Unlike similar products from competing brands like UHA, these are really soft. So soft that I almost forgot they were there.
As far as soda flavoured chewy candies go, these are probably one of the better ones I’ve had so far. Especially when it comes to the execution of the gummy bits inside, it doesn’t detract from the rest of the candy by having too much of a contrast between the chewy part. Overall a job well done and I would consider this again.
