by Bob Blackwelder
Fondant is a bee favorite winter feeding. Here is Bob’s recipe:
• 10 pounds of granulated sugar
• 3 cups of water
• 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar
• Heat, use candy thermometer and heat to 234 degrees
• Remove from heat, then cool until mixture is around 200 degrees.
• Put in mixer then blend until it is white.
• Pour into per-sprayed molds (Pam or canola oil is recommended).
• Cool over night. The next morning cut into cake sized patties to place on top of bee frames.
Remember to use a ring on your hives to allow space for the fondant cakes.
Editors Note (Pat Allen): I made this Fondant recipe for the first time yesterday (11/18/2014) and found it to be lacking in one or two areas. My equipment b-a-r-e-l-y holds 10 pounds of sugar so I needed 5 pound equivalents. Since then I have researched my questions and have made a table of extrapolations to the original recipe for a variety of different sized recipes. Hope this helps.
| Fondant Cakes Recipe for Honey Bees (aka Candy Board) | |||||||
| Sugar | Water | Vinegar* | |||||
| pounds | cups | ounces | tablespoons | ounces | |||
| 25.00 | 13.50 | 108.00 | 5.00 | 2.50 | |||
| 20.00 | 9.00 | 72.00 | 4.00 | 2.00 | |||
| 15.00 | 4.50 | 36.00 | 3.00 | 1.50 | |||
| 10.00 | 3.00 | 24.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 | |||
| 5.00 | 1.50 | 12.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | |||
| 4.00 | 1.20 | 9.60 | 0.80 | 0.40 | |||
| 2.50 | 0.75 | 6.00 | 0.50 | 0.25 | |||
| 1.25 | 0.38 | 3.00 | 0.25 | 0.13 | |||
| 1.00 | 0.30 | 2.40 | 0.20 | 0.10 | |||
Cooking Instructions:
Caution: Hot sugar is dangerous. Have a glass of cold water close by in case it splashes.
- Using a candy thermometer, heat mixture to 234 degrees.
- Remove from heat then cool until mixture is around 200 degrees.
- If you’re adding an essential oil (EO) supplement, be aware of its flash point. Make sure the mixture is below that flash point before adding EO.
- Put mixture in mixer then blend until it is white.
- Pour into pre-sprayed molds (Pam or canola oil is recommended).
- Cool over night. The next morning cut into cake sized patties to place on top of bee frames.
- Remember to use a ring on your hives to allow space for the fondant cakes (aka candy boards).
*The vinegar makes the sucrose in sugar take on a more glucose-like structure, making it easier for the bees to digest and helps prevent mold.
General Measurements:
| Water weight per gallon | Sugar weight pounds to cups | |||
| pounds | ounces | cups | 1 cup = 1/2 pound | |
| 8 | 1024 | 128 | 10 cups = 5 pounds | |
| 1 | 128 | 16 | 20 cups = 10 pounds | |
| 0.5 | 64 | 8 | 40 cups = 20 pounds | |
| 0.25 | 32 | 4 | ||
| 0.125 | 16 | 2 | ||
| 0.0625 | 8 | 1 | 1 Tablespoon volume = .5 ounces | |
For more information or video instructions, check out these links.
http://www.bamboohollow.com/fondant-recipe.php
Heaven's Hill Honey 