Puccho – Juicy Assorted Fruit

Puccho is not my chewy candy of choice as it should be clear by now. That mantle still goes to Hi-Chew, and remain unseated still. Trust me I am still looking. Having said that, I still like to try other products every now and then just to see if things have changed or what’s new in the zeitgeist of chewy candies.

I don’t think this particular flavour is new. In fact I’m pretty sure this is one of their more long-standing flavours. But I realize I don’t have any recent memory of having these, so I figure why not. If it’s been around for that long, surely it can’t be that bad right?

This mashes a bunch of flavours into a single piece. The fruits I can taste are pineapple, apple, grape and what I assume is either lemon, orange or both. The flavour is all over the place but at no point do they mix and coalescence together to make me think of a fruit punch. The flavours still feel distinct enough from each other that I can tell them apart, most of the time.

The texture of the candy is fairly chewy, though more similar to a standard Starburst than the more bouncy, taffy like texture of a Hi-Chew. The little gummy bits are also quite firm, so it can be a bit jarring if you aren’t expecting that. The candy itself starts off a bit firm, but very quickly softens up, thought it never does get to the same chewy softness as Hi-Chew either. It’s sort of it’s own thing, which I can appreciate. What I will say is because of the various methods of delivering chewy sugary goodness, these may not be great if they go stale as I imagine the gummy bits will get way harder than the rest of it.

While I won’t deny that I am partial the Hi-Chew, I still have enough objectivity to say that these are good for a different audience or niche than Hi-Chew. If we go just by the chewy portion of the candy, these are much more like the traditional sticky chewy candy but lack the similar chewing gum sort of bounce that Hi-Chew has.

Does that make Puccho any worse? Not really. Ultimately I think it comes down to what you enjoy, and Puccho definitely nails the novelty of a unique experience a bit better. If I want a pure, unadulterated chewing experience I’ll still go for Hi-Chew. But if I’m feeling quirky and want to go with something more out there, Puccho won’t be too far down my list.