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Fondant recipe for winter feeding

5K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  Gypsi 
#1 ·
I am not the Author. Jason Smith of JC's honeybees provided it to our local bee club. It's his recipe. I have made it every year for several years.



Bee Fondant Candy


10 lbs sugar (white table sugar)
2 pints water
½ teaspoon cream of tarter (do not add more)
1 cup dry pollen substitute or soy flour or rye flour
1 pinch of salt


Needed Equipment
1 large pot
1 long handled spoon
1 candy thermometer
Pans or molds for fondant
Spatula
Electric mixer
½ tsp measuring spoon
Foil



  1. Bring water to a boil with salt added
  2. Add ½ the sugar to the boiling water and stir, then add the other ½ once it has dissolved.
  3. Add cream of tarter and mix well
  4. Stir at slow to medium speed WITHOUT stopping until the mixture boils. Once boiling stop stirring. If you continue to stir the sugar will foam over.
  5. One the mix is boiling and has reached your target temperature, remove from heat and let cool to 200 degrees. Temp of 238 for fugy, 250 for rock candy. The cooling process will take about 13 minutes.
  6. Once the mix has cooled to 200 degrees, then you will add your pollen sub or soy flour. Using an electric mixer makes this process a lot easier.
  7. Pour the fondant into your molds or pans. This will be VERY hot so be careful.
  8. This mix will take a few hours to cool, do not rush this part.
This will yield about 11 pounds of fondant.

I generally make half batches and it is enough to get 3 hives through the North Texas winter. Mine hardens quickly, I don't do the cooling time, I pour it into paper plates I already have set out on the table. I store in ziploc bag in the refrigerator.
 
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#3 ·
Here's the recipe I use. I quit fondant a while back because these work very good and are much easier to make. I dry mine in a food dehydrator but if you let them sit for a few days they harden up and are usable. On my nucs I staple a 1/2" hardware cloth on the bottom of my extension put a sheet of newspaper on it and put the sugar directly on that. I drill an upper entrance in all my extensions for air movement. Moisture from the cluster condenses on the sugar and the bees can eat it quite easily.

25# cane sugar
one quart cider vinegar
sprinkle of electrolytes
1-2 T citric acid (Found in your canning dept)
splash of pro Health or other scented essential oil of choice

Mix together about 1/3 of the sugar and vinegar at a time in a five gallon bucket with a large drill and paint paddle mixer. If you try to mix it all at once, you will get uneven moisture distributation.
Mixture will feel very soft, but not wet or sticky.
I use a shallow aluminum baking sheet that fits right into my food dehydrator. You can use any size pan you want, but be sure your bricks are no taller than your frame extension under your inner cover. Score the sugar to this size blocks you want before drying.
Fill the pan to desired depth with moistened sugar mix:
 
#6 ·
1/2 teaspoon, I have made that recipe several times and it turns out great, bring it to the higher temp to get a harder fondant otherwise its sticky as hell and hard to handle, it does take some time to boil to reach the higher temp like a good 20 minutes but it does reach it, just keep taking the temp every few minutes..
 
#8 ·
I line small stainless steel bowls with plastic wrap and in about 15 minutes it is hard you cant manipulate it, I would think any small bowl or paper plate would work, just line it with plastic wrap and once cooled the wrap peels off easily and it helps release the fondant from the container, otherwise the fondant and container will be one..
heres a link to some I made.. https://www.beekeepingforums.com/posts/206093/

this was before I used the steel bowls
 
#9 ·
I pour mine on paper plates, minding bee space so it will fit under the inner cover (which I put deep side down), the fondant, minus its plate, sits on top of the frame. You can also pour it into a mold, such as a frame with a non-leak tray under it (wax paper is inadequate at preventing counter floods), or into an inner cover with something stuffed in the center hole.
 
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