SWEET REALITY Taste and See a chocolate dream come true
TEXARKANA, Texas — Taste and See is a dream come true, literally.
Owner Denay Maheu said her first foray into candy was when she was about 5 years old, after her mother let her go to the candy shop across the street from her school in California.
“I go in and get candy and licorice and stuff like that,” Maheu said. “When I came out, there was a little dandelion on the side in the grass and I picked it up. I closed my eyes and blew it and wished for a candy store.”
Thirty-four years later, Maheu opened a candy shop with husband Greg in Ashdown, Arkansas.
After close to eight years in business, Denay realized that the name for the store could also be found in the Bible at Psalm 34:8: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Greg Maheu said his first venture into chocolate began at home, with his mother instructing him to grate a bar of chocolate for her English toffee.
“I had to keep my fingers safe in order to get the reward of the leftover chocolate,” Greg said.
Greg followed in his mother’s footsteps and began to make her recipes at Christmas. His colleagues at Domtar paper mill even began asking for details on how to replicate the sweet treats.
“Then she (Denay) told me about her dream about having a candy store,” Greg said.
The couple began to work on making Denay’s dream come true, from having a small, online shop, to a small storefront, to making ice cream, and later to expanding into a full coffee shop in Texarkana.
The Maheus’ son, Brock, has been “roped in,” according to Greg. Denay said Brock has a gift for handling the store — from creating new desserts and managing the business to product design.
Brock said he spent time with European chefs while devising his recipe for Italian gelato.
“We have local-inspired flavors,” Brock said. “We have things that our customers have told us they love, some traditional Italian stuff and some more Americanized flavors.”
According to Brock, one of his more unique locally inspired flavors is Steak House butter.
“It’s made with real butter, real cinnamon, and real vanilla,” Brock said. “You might not be able to get this somewhere else.”
Brock said working at Taste and See has been educational.
“I didn’t know how to make a lot of candies and things,” Brock said. “That’s something that is an art form. I feel like being able to work with chocolate and understanding how to use the correct amounts of ingredients so your flavors are balanced is something I’ve had to learn over the years.”
The family all agreed that seeing customers return is one of their favorite things.
“They may have been 8 years old when they first came in,” Brock said. “Now, they’re 18 years old and they have a job here. It’s pretty cool to see how we’ve had the community support over the years, and we’re very grateful for that.”