Harry Hill's Fairtrade salted peanuts and cashews

Harry Hill’s Fairtrade salted peanuts and cashews Harry’s Nuts! are available in almost 800 Tesco stores in time for the Christmas nut buying rush.

A third of all nuts in the UK are sold in the run up to the festive season (Mintel 2008). This year, buying Harry’s Nuts! gives UK nut consumers a great way to support nut farmers and their families on the other side of the world at the traditional ‘time of giving’. Harry came up with the idea of selling tasty Fairtrade nuts for the benefit of the farmers and makes no money from it himself.

Harry’s Nuts! are popular for their taste – they are cooked for longer than other salted peanuts and cashews to give them an extra crunchiness and deeper flavour. They are the only branded Fairtrade nut snacks widely available in UK supermarkets so will be a welcome addition to any get-together.

Harry’s Nuts! are also available in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose stores, from www.ocado.co.uk, vending machines and smaller outlets.

Harry works in partnership with 100% Fairtrade nut company Liberation Foods CIC – a company whose biggest shareholder is a co-operative of nut farming organisations from Malawi, Mozambique, India, Nicaragua and other countries.

Harry’s Nuts! have been backed by celebrity food writer Sophie Grigson who says: "The peanuts have a very appealing creamy texture and a delicious sweet, rounded flavour enhanced by just the right degree of salt."

Harry launched the products after travelling to Malawi and meeting some of the peanut farmers, many of whom are women looking after Aids orphans. He heard that the benefits which come with Fairtrade are a huge help to them. Harry, a big peanut lover, says: "I’m working with Liberation and it's great that the company is run to benefit the farmers and their families."

People who buy Harry's Nuts! are helping to establish 'Community Buying Centres' in Malawi - the Centres are used to keep the peanuts in top condition and are being paid for by Fairtrade premiums.. When harvest time is over, the farmers want the Centres to be used to give out relief items such as mosquito nets or seed for farmers who have lost their crops due to a river breaking its banks or a similar local disaster. There is talk of using the Centres for extra primary classes for children - sometimes the schools are too full and sometimes there are children who do not grasp education as quickly as others who need extra lessons.

For more information see www.chooseliberation.com