Feel Good Chocolate: John & Kira Create Urban Gardens for Schools

What a discovery: Feel Good Chocolate!

John & Kira’s handmade chocolates are a regular fixture at our local Headhouse Farmers’ Market on a Sunday.  

We can never decide which flavor of ladybug chocolates to buy; should we go for the raspberry, or the chocolate mint? 

The company has now made the choice even more complicated – with the addition of the Urban Garden Chocolate Bars which come in two flavors: chili pepper and almonds or tangy orange and rosemary.  

We adored the orange and rosemary bar and were delighted to learn that both these sweet treats are made from ingredients grown in Philadelphia school gardens by the children themselves.  

According to John, the company’s goal is to educate local children about the pleasures of growing your own food:  “Some of these children have never seen a chili pepper growing or seen a rosemary bush.  We want them to enjoy gardening and understand where their food comes from.”  

Now you can feel good about eating that last square of chocolate...  

And have you heard about the Chocolate Garden which John & Kira has sponsored at Temple University.  We are just DYING to visit.  As their website explains Temple's Village of Arts & Humanities or VAH: "..has been growing herbs for John & Kira's Chocolates since 2009.  This year, 2012, the Village and John & Kira's are launching the Chocolate Garden consisting of a teaching-tasting pavilion and herb beds dedicated to growing various plants that John & Kira's will use for chocolate products and experiments."

How neat is that?

For further information about school gardens in Philadelphia, see urbannutrition.org