For the Love of Candy

Manufacturer: Morinaga

Name: Green Apple

Name: Strawberry

Ratings: 3.5/5 for Strawberry, 5/5 for Green Apple

So I managed to get my hands on two more flavors of Hi-Chew. Since I already waxed lyrical on the texture of Hi-Chews, I figured I’d just put up a flavor profile for each. I will note that the packages for these said “Since 1975″ on them. I’m not sure if this referrs to the Hi-Chews themselves or the Morinaga company.

Strawberry is milky pink on the outside and dark pink on the inside. This has an extremely mellow flavor–very muted, more so than the lemon. The hints of strawberry are there, but really in some ways it tasted more melon than berry–not watermelon per se, more like canteloupe. It’s slightly astringent and has the tiniest hint of pepper. I liked it, but it wasn’t stellar, and it wasn’t as good as the lemon.

Green apple is light green with a darker green inside. It has a bright, crisp, tart flavor–almost like biting into a Granny Smith apple. It has slight floral notes and a wonderful, full sour taste to it. The chew has a great apple juice apple-taste. It’s absolutely delicious and I love this–it reminds me of the Jolly Rancher Green Apple but sooo much better. 5/5.

I know there’s more flavors out there–I can’t wait to try them all.

Name: Hi-Chew Lemon

Company: Morinaga

Rating: 4/5

I did indeed receive my shipment of Zotz, and I shall be reviewing them next week. Why am I not reviewing them now? Because there’s over 100 pieces in my box ‘o Zotz and I don’t think the roll of Hi-Chews are going to last much longer.

Hi-Chews are made my Morinaga, and this is my first experience with this candy company and now not the last. They come in a pack about the same size and shape as a package of Bubble Yum and are decorated with the Hi-Chew logo and pictures of the flavor inside, in this case lemon. The package promises natural and artificial flavors and indeed as soon as I picked up the package in World Market I was assailed with the scent of fresh lemonade. The individual pieces are the same size as a piece of Trident, but much thicker, and wrapped in white. The candies themselves are a milky white-yellow with a bright yellow core.

The chews do have a yummy, bright lemon flavor but there was something missing. It wasn’t an issue of chemical versus natural it was more of a question of intensity–I guess I was expecting more of a punch because of the yellow core, but it wasn’t there. Just a sweet, slightly tangy, slightly floral lemon.

It took me awhile to figure out how to describe the texture, as it was honestly something I’d never come across before. I did finally nail it–it has the same texture as a piece of gum midway through, when the softness has been chewed out but it hasn’t reached impossibly rubbery levels. I know that doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement, but I loved it. It’s somewhere between a gum and a candy and absolutely addictive.

I couldn’t give it my highest rating because of the slightly blandness of flavor, but I still can’t wait to try the other flavors.