Costco Shoppers Agree This Candy Is Better Than Starburst

If you are a fan of sweet, chewy candy, but you've mostly kept your snacking limited to classic sweets like gummy worms or Starbursts, some shoppers think you might want to expand your horizons a little bit further. One Reddit user with a sweet tooth recently took to the social media site to recommend a different kind of chewy, fruity candy, posting a picture of a bag of colorful Hi-Chews with the caption, "Superior to Starburst."

Many of their fellow Reddit users were quick to agree that the soft, yet chewy, Japanese candies certainly give Starburst a run for their money — and that is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Starbursts are among the most popular candies in the United States, consistently ranking within people's top five favorite Halloween sweets throughout the country, per CandyStore.com. "100%. These are my favorite candy ever," u/Whoisyourfactor agreed with the original poster, while another claimed it's "impossible to eat just one" of these sweet candies. "I can't even have them in the house b/c they're highly addictive for me. I will eat one after another," chimed in u/librarykerri. 

While both Starbursts and Hi-Chews are sweet, chewy, and fruity candies, it seems that it is Hi-Chew's comparably softer texture that has some fans saying they are even better than their more popular counterpart. On Reddit, one High-Chew fan noted that the candy has "the texture of gum," and that is by design. In fact, Hi-Chew founder Taichiro Morinaga specifically designed the candy as a gum alternative that could be swallowed, so people could enjoy a chewy, gum-like texture while still adhering to Japanese social customs that frowned upon taking food out of your mouth in public (via Hi-Chew). Starburst, meanwhile, have a harder exterior and are not quite as tender in mouthfeel; one Reddit user seemed to hint that they more often tend to "get stuck in your teeth."

Other Hi-Chew enthusiasts note the difference in fruity flavor between the two candy brands. The Quad detailed that High-Chews are "less sweet than Starburst, with a more authentic-to-the fruit taste," adding that "the lemon has a brighter, more fragrant lemon taste than its Starburst counterpart." Costco shoppers on Reddit also appreciate the range in Hi-Chew flavors, with at least 20 available in the U.S. alone, from raspberry to dragon fruit. Starburst is more generally known for its four original flavors.