The Untold Truth Of Hi-Chew

Hi-Chew is one of the most popular and oldest Japanese candy brands in the world, according to Sugoii Japan. One might think that the small, individually wrapped fruit chews are the Japanese equivalent of Starburst, but upon tasting them, the two really aren't that similar. Hi-Chew candies delight people all over the world with their fresh-tasting fruit flavors and melt-in-your-mouth texture. These candies may not be real fruit, but the intention is for them to taste as much like fruit as possible. 

There are several ways that the brand goes about achieving this tasting experience — which we'll tell you all about in a bit. But more than being just a candy, Hi-Chew is a symbol of the meeting of cultures. It all began with the brand's parent company Morinaga, and a story that endlessly intertwines the cultures of Japan and the United States. Hi-Chew is the story of what it really means to share a piece of candy, as well as a Japanese man's American dream come to life.

Once he got settled in San Francisco, Biz Journals reports that Morinaga opened his own hardware store in 1887, building off of his prior experience working as a pottery manager in Japan. Sadly, that too would prove to be a failure, but this time it wasn't because of his own shortcomings. 

According to the National Archives, anti-Asian sentiment was strong in California at the time. Being the closest state to Eastern countries like China and Japan, the Golden State was the main landing port for 19th-century Asian immigrants. The growing Asian population there was met with a growing hatred amongst white Americans; even the law barred them from applying for citizenship. Discrimination like that meant Morinaga's hardware store saw very few patrons, and the lack of revenue led him to shut the business down. Once again, he was forced to find another way out of poverty at a time when the odds were stacked against him.

In 1899, Morinaga felt his knowledge was sufficient enough to get started on his own, and he made plans to return to Japan. Before setting sail for home though, Morinaga wanted to gather some intel as to what kind of American candy might fare best in Japan. He asked several Japanese-Americans in San Francisco which American sweet was their favorite. The answer, according to Biz Journals, was marshmallows! Armed with this knowledge, Morinaga went back to Tokyo and embarked upon the next step of his rags-to-riches story. He started as a street vendor, fervently selling marshmallows and other confections to passersby. He called his marshmallows "angel food" (via KWR International), for their white color and light texture. 

He and his sweets were so popular that the hardworking entrepreneur was able to formally launch The Morinaga Western Confectionery Shop in 1918 — Japan's first modern candy company. In honor of the marshmallows that initiated his success, as well as the Christian religion that he found and adopted while in America, Morinaga made an angel part of the official company logo. But while it may all have started with marshmallows, the company soon expanded to chocolate — and Hi-Chew would follow.

Next to marshmallows and chocolates, one of the first confections produced by The Morinaga Western Confectionery Shop were caramels. Interestingly, it was actually the process for making Morinaga Milk Caramels that ultimately led to the creation of Hi-Chew soft fruit candies! People adored the sweet, milky flavor of these Taisho-era caramels, so the company adapted its formula to create similarly soft, chewy, fruit-based sweets. According to The Counter, the first Morinaga fruit chew was made by adding strawberry flavor to a piece of their caramel candy. Morinaga's research department made improvements to the recipe over the years to get them to be just right, and now Hi-Chew comes in a wide variety of flavors!

Since then, Hi-Chew has become one of the most beloved Japanese candies in the entire world — a fact reflected in the numbers. Americans eat between 700 million (according to Morinaga America and Hi-Chew) and 1 billion Hi-Chew pieces per year! That's more than 1,320 pieces per minute!

It almost seems like poetry or fate that baseball, a sport beloved in both America and Japan, would be the bringer of success in this chewy candy story. Morinaga America, Inc. was launched in California in 2008, yet according to South Florida Sun-Sentinel, it wasn't until four years later, when then-Boston Red Sox pitcher Junichi Tazawa exposed his teammates to his favorite candy from his home country, that Hi-Chew really blossomed in the U.S.

When it was Tazawa's turn to stock up on chewing gum for his team's dugout, he threw some pieces of Hi-Chew into the mix, and the Japanese candies were an instant hit! The players loved them so much that Tazawa couldn't keep up with demand. He was proud to share his Japanese culture, but he was running out of resources. When the pitcher approached Morinaga America about bulk ordering the candy, they did him one better and gave the sweets to the MLB team for free! That was the beginning of an enduring partnership between the MLB and Morinaga America. Not only did the brand partner with the Red Sox, they also went on to form more partnerships with teams like the LA Dodgers, the Minnesota Twins, and the Chicago Cubs.

As demonstrated by the brand's previously mentioned MLB partnerships, Hi-Chew loves entering into unique collaborations to market its products. One such 2021 collaboration was to celebrate the launch of the brand's newest U.S. flavor, raspberry. The Japanese candy company teamed up with Zola Bakes, a New York City shop famous for making rainbow cookies, to bring their customers a special Halloween treat.

Zola Bakes came up with their own interpretation of Hi-Chew's latest flavor in rainbow cookie form. The bright red and orange layers of these limited-edition, October-only cookies were lined with raspberry jam. Each cookie was then topped with chocolate and finished off with some spooky, cute designs. But as special as this Halloween collaboration with Zola Bakes was, it isn't the only example of Hi-Chew transforming their soft fruit chews into other desserts. It also likely (hopefully) won't be the last!

Not a frozen yogurt fan? That's fine, because Hi-Chew also turned one of their other new flavors, strawberry lemonade, into a donut (via PR Newswire)! They teamed up with a New York City donut shop called The Doughnut Project for an absolutely off-the-chain reinvention of their fruity candy. Dubbed the Strawberry Squeeze, this super indulgent donut combined the sweet, juicy flavor of strawberry and the bright, tangy flavor of lemon in a filling made with strawberry jam and lemon curd. 

But the craziness didn't stop there. The exterior of the limited edition donut was decadently topped with a glossy, bright red Hi-Chew Strawberry Lemonade candy glaze, shimmery strawberry sugar granules, and a lemon twist for good measure. Summer fresh flavors and fried dough came together for one unbelievable sugar sensation, leaving everybody asking: Just how many ways are there to eat Hi-Chew? If the Japanese candy company keeps its momentum up, there could be even more magnificent confectionery innovations on the horizon.