ARGENTINA, TE AMO

Since starting Fix & Fogg, we’ve sourced both Australian and Argentinean peanuts. Recently we fell for Argentina’s beauty, the quality of its peanuts, and the passion of its growers.

In August a few years back, Thom (our Chief Taste Maker) and I travelled to to Argentina to meet the people who supply us with hi-oleic Runner variety peanuts for our peanut butter.  We wanted to get to know the growers, and to build a closer relationship with them and their country.

We landed in Buenos Aires and drove 6 hours north-west to meet the producers.  They showed us around their farms to see the last days of the peanut harvest, then took us out to dinner. Their hospitality, kindness and love for what they do made me realise that travelling such a long way was the right thing to do.

Our new suppliers run a vertically integrated business. This means they own and grow the peanuts, harvest and process them too. This way they can manage both supply and quality. Kind of like what we do in our Fix & Fogg Peanut Butter factory here in New Zealand.

Argentinean peanuts are grown on the elevated plains of Córdoba, east of Mendoza, the wine region the country is known for. It’s very flat but has big beautiful skies that seem endless, not unlike our own New Zealand skies. Argentina isn’t really known for its peanuts, I suppose, but it actually has the perfect climate to grow them. The terroir of Córdoba peanuts is naturally sweeter resulting in a better tasting peanut butter.

Our supplier only grows the high oleic Runner peanut – that’s it, no other crops.  Mindful of their land, they don’t use water irrigation, and don’t even need to use fertiliser as their soil is so naturally fertile. It’s this passion for peanuts that makes them such a great fit with what we do at Fix & Fogg.

- Roman Jewell, CEO and Founder