Hi-Chew – Umai-Chew White Peach

The Umai-Chew line of Hi-Chew is marketed as a slightly premium take on some of their popular flavours. What usually happens is they take a standard flavour and throw in pieces of sugar crystals or hard-ish candy that are also flavoured to give it a bit more punch in flavour and texture. As you can imagine the result is something that is different in texture from the standard piece, and a little sweeter in flavour.

Opening a pack of Hi-Chew is always something I prefer to do in private, because the smell is so strong and discernible that it tends to attract unwanted attention. Almost like vultures circling a carcass, opening this near other fans of fruity candies is a death sentence. Do it at your own caution, and only if you are fine with the risk of having to share.

Flavour wise it’s no different from the other white peach flavours I’ve had. It has a sweet, floral peach flavour that is straight forward and not particularly complex or confusing. It’s just good old fashioned peach. It reminds me of a nice refreshing cold bottle of peach iced tea. The little candy bits are fairly similar in flavour to the chew itself, so their contribution is largely to the texture. The flavour is also a bit sweeter, naturally because the vehicle of flavour delivery is sugar crystals. Who would have thought.

The texture is the standard soft, bouncy, chewy taffy like texture that I’ve come to know and love. The different here is the addition of the candy bits in the centre. They aren’t hard candy bits, as they don’t require much bite force to break down. The best way I can think of to describe them is that they are like crunchy little popping candy bits, but without the popping. I kind of would have preferred if the candy was popping, but the experience is interesting enough that I’m fine without it. It does have an interesting novelty to it, but ultimately something I would get tired of after a few times.

The standard white peach flavour is quite authentic to the somewhat bland sweetness of a white peach, and I kind of enjoyed that. This is more like a white peach that was dusted with a coating of sugar. Both have their pros and cons, and this flavour is really a seasonal thing for me. I would tend to prefer the original flavour, but if I’m looking for something more exciting or flavourful, I would go for this.