Hi-Chew – Strong Grape

What do you think of when you think of the word strong? Do you think of giant, muscly body builders? Or do you think about a bottle of perfectly aged scotch that burns the nostrils upon getting near it? Or perhaps you are reminded of the sheer force of will and strength it takes to give birth to a baby, and the unnerving dread of how that experience may change a woman?

Well hopefully you don’t associate any of those things with today’s flavour of Hi-Chew. Strong in this case means there’s about 5 times as much red grape juice than the usual piece. I’m not sure how much was in it to begin with, so it could be almost meaningless. If I have a drop of water in a water bottle, 5 times the amount of water I started with would seem unnoticeable. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s not an insignificant amount. Maybe something like 5% real grape fruit juice? I’m curious to find out what that means in a candy when they say they are using five times as much juice. Usually it implies to me it will be made up of more natural flavouring, but whether it tastes better is likely a whole other issue altogether.

This pouch has 8 individually wrapped pieces. Based on the characters on the wrapper, i can only assume I’m in for a good time. Red grape is sort of their flagship product in my eyes – it’s what they do best and they know it, with how many grape flavours they crank out. Sure strawberry is probably their most favourite, but I can’t imagine grape is far from the top.

Texture wise these are definitely different from the standard Hi-Chew affair. These are much softer and while still chewy, don’t have nearly as much of that firm bounce to the chew that traditional pieces have. These are more like a typical fruit chew that melts away into a sticky puddle much faster. It’s somewhat to be expected, when you’re putting in 5 times as much juice supposedly.

The flavour is less vibrant and floral as the usual grape flavour, but again that’s to be expected given that they are using more juice as flavouring. It has a more natural taste to it, which depending on what side of the fence you sit is good or bad. To me, I know Hi-Chew is unhealthy and eating too much will dig me an early grave. But that’s part of the charm for me – if I’m going to eat something unhealthy I want it to taste really good so I feel like I’m getting my life’s worth. Otherwise it feels like I’m hedging and doing things in half measure and I’m not about that life. That being said, the more natural flavour is still tasty that I would consider it a win.

The texture is hard to get over though, and is the main sell of going for Hi-Chew. Without that signature texture these are no different from all the other chewy candies on the market. And believe you me, there are a ton of them out there. Having said that though, I still enjoyed these enough that depending on the price, I would consider getting these again.