Hi-Chew Premium: How it differs from Regular Hi-Chews

“Hi-Chew (ハイチュウ)” is a long-selling Japanese taffy candy produced and sold by the leading Japanese confectionery company “Morinaga Seika (森永製菓)”.

Together with Morinaga Milk Caramel and Ramune Soda Candy, Hi-Chew is one of Morinaga’s top-selling products and widely enjoyed in many countries around the world.

The original product of the Hi-Chew series came into the market in 1975, and in 2013 Morinaga introduced Hi-Chew’s new subline “Hi-Chew Premium”.

Hi-Chew Premium Grape vs Regular Hi-Chew Grape Flavor 

Today, I picked up both the Morinaga Hi-Chew Premium Grape and regular Hi-Chew Grape Flavor for this blog article, for I wanted to compare them for people who are curious about the new line.

Now, let’s see the contents.

Features

Hi-Chew Premium’s taffy has a round, spherical shape and is wrapper-free in a plastic zipper bag, while the taffy candy of the standard Hi-Chew Grape is square-shaped and individually wrapped in foil.

Hi-Chew Grape

The regular Hi-Chew Grape has a two-layer structure and the purple candy exterior contains grape puree. This taffy is firm, chewy, and sticky, and is rich in the flavor of grape with moderate sweetness.

Hi-Chew Premium Grape

Meanwhile, the taffy candy of Hi-Chew Premium Grape has a thin layer of fragrant coating. The grape candy inside is full of the delicious flavor of Cabernet Sauvignon, a representative grape cultivar for red wine.

This premium treat is soft, neither that chewy nor too sticky compared to the regular Hi-Chew. Overall, I think that thanks to the taste of the grape Cabernet Sauvignon this one has a closer flavor to the actual grape.

Ingredients 

Next, let’s check the ingredients. According to the list pictured above, the regular Hi-Chew Grape taffy mainly consists of starch syrup, sugar, vegetable fat and oil, gelatin, concentrated grape juice, mixed jam (including apple), and grape puree.

On the other hand, the main ingredients in the Hi-Chew Premium Grape Flavor are starch syrup, sugar, glucose, vegetable fat and oil, concentrated grape juice (99% Cabernet Sauvignon), and gelatin.

Price and Where to Buy

Lastly, as for the price and where to buy, the regular Hi-Chew Grape’s suggested retail price is 100 yen (about 1 USD), while that of Hi-Chew Premium Grape is 120 yen (about 1.2 USD).

Both the Hi-Chews are available at grocery and convenience stores around Japan, and in recent years, the regular grape flavor can also be bought on many online shopping sites outside of Japan.