By Sanchez Manning Harry Hill has made the unlikely decision to launch his own brand of snacks. The Bafta award-winning comedian showcased his new brand of Fairtrade salted peanuts, aptly named Harry s Nuts, at London Zoo in Regent s Park on Tuesday. He

By Sanchez Manning

Harry Hill has made the unlikely decision to launch his own brand of snacks.

The Bafta award-winning comedian showcased his new brand of Fairtrade salted peanuts, aptly named Harry's Nuts, at London Zoo in Regent's Park on Tuesday.

He has teamed up with community interest company Liberation to develop the tasty treats, which are due to go on sale at 59p a packet in corner shops and pubs.

But Mr Hill has no plans to rake in the cash from the venture, with almost all of the profits going back to the farmers in Africa and Latin America who grow the nuts. And his fans can rest assured that he is not going to give up his day job to go into the nibbles business.

The comic says that his main motivation for getting involved in the project, aside from his long-term support of Fairtrade, was his passion for nuts.

He was heavily involved in the tasting, the packet design and even penned a cheeky backing card against which the product will be sold.

"I love salted peanuts myself and feel I am doing a service to snackers everywhere who want to know the farmers who grew what they are eating have been paid a fair price," he said at the launch event at the zoo.

Mr Hill said he was inspired to come up with the idea for his nuts in May this year after visiting Fairtrade banana and cocoa farms in Ghana.

He then contacted Liberation, who already supply cashew and peanut mixes to supermarkets, to help him get the scheme off the ground.

Talking about his visit to Africa, he said: "When you see it in action, that's when you get hooked because it really works. It's about quite small things and relatively cheap solutions.

"Then when I went to Malawi, I visited small peanut holdings and saw the benefits in concrete. If Liberation hadn't come along they would never have had the chance to trade their nuts abroad and would have just sold them on the side of the road."

Aside from his nutty commitments, Mr Hill is also gearing up for a new run of his massively popular TV Burp series.

He added that he is limbering up to return to form by watching some quality episodes of Robson Green's Extreme Fishing and The Apprentice.

sanchez.manning@hamhigh.co.uk