REVIEW: Hi-Chew Sours!

An interesting twist for the Hi-Chew brand that pays off brilliantly

What an amazing find. I usually find the individually wrapped Hi-Chew Tropical Mix at my local Daiso store. That version is always there, but the bag has a banana flavor that I really do not like (a rant for another review). However, after a recent visit, I saw they had a new addition to the aisle on top of the tropical bag– Hi-Chew Sours.

I instinctively bought as many bags as I could, as I knew they were made just for me. I opened them in the car. Needless to say, the whole bag was gone by the time I arrived home. I won’t disclose how long (or short) the car-ride was.

For those who aren’t familiar with Hi-Chew, it’s a Japanese candy brand. Its American comparison is most obviously Starburst. Instead of squares though, Hi-Chews are more rectangular but are about the same size in volume (if I had to guess Hi-Chews are a little bigger). Think “Starburst log” and you have a Hi-Chew.

Naturally, as you may have gathered from the name, they are also chewier than Starburst too. A candy like this probably isn’t recommended for anyone with fillings. The average piece probably takes on average 30 seconds to chew and swallow. However, the chewiness is not at all stale; in fact, there’s a softness to all Hi-Chew that make them superior to Starburst in my opinion.

It certainly helps that their flavors are also both distinct and authentic. I can’t think of a single flavor that they don’t do well. Each one is juicy and delicious.

A normal pack of Hi-Chews comes in a sleeve of one flavor. However, these individually-wrapped Hi-Chew bags always come in a pack of about 15 or so with three flavors. The flavors are usually evenly distributed but sometimes you will get unlucky with a pack that is unfairly loaded–it’s just the luck of the draw really.

The 3 flavors are ranked as follows:

1. Grapefruit (I just ranked it as the BEST Hi-Chew flavor)
2. Lemon
3. Lime

Grapefruit is a super unique flavor that you don’t see executed well that often. Of course, Hi-Chew pulls it off by making it more sour than bitter. That being said, you still get that bitter quality of a grapefruit in candy form–I really don’t know how they do it.

The lemon flavor is zesty, while the lime definitely disappoints. It’s almost as if they toned down the sourness of an actual lime to make the flavor more tame and manageable. Unfortunately, that scaling back really takes away from the flavor overall to point where it’s almost bland.

Ultimately, the 3 flavors together come together to become one of my new favorite candies. I can’t recommend these enough for sour-lovers and Hi-Chew lovers. The Grapefruit flavored one is really something special! A ZOMG!

Try them for yourself and leave your comments!

 

P.S. Here’s a little note for you all who haven’t eaten these individually wrapped Hi-Chews before: You can squeeze one of end of the wrap and essentially “pop” the candy into your mouth. The wrappers are pretty filmsy, so you won’t struggle if you want to open them one by one normally, but this a quick and efficient way to eat these kind of packs (even though it may be a little annoying to others)!