Fondant Recipe

Having tried to make some fondant for the bees I have managed to find a good method to make the perfect feed. No weighing necessary…

Ingredients:

 5:1 (sugar : water) ratio

little acid  (vinegar) catalyst which inverts the sugar.

method:

1. Take 5 cups of sugar and mix with 1 cup full of water in a saucepan. To this add 1-2 teaspoons (grape) Vinegar and 1  teaspoon (optional) olive oil.
2. Heat for approx. 30 mins. until a temperature of 117-119 degrees C. is reached. (Stirring occasionally) The lower temperature creates a softer mix – trial and error with your thermometer.
3. Turn off the heat and leave to cool down to around 96 degrees C, without stirring
4. Place the saucepan into a bowl of warm water and start stirring.
5. The mixture will start to cloud over and thicken
6. As soon as the mixture becomes a soft creamy paste I shovel this into a plastic ice cream container. Once cool, this mixture can also be kneaded.

Application:

Before giving this to the bees, loosen the mixture and place the up-turned container over the crown board’s clearer/feed hole so that the fondant settles on the crown board leaving no spaces.  Try to make sure the bees are under the feed-hole. Turn the board if necessary. The fondant can also be kneaded to a flat patty which can be placed directly over the frames under the crown board however this will become hard if not consumed quickly.

Notes:

The recipe above can be made using less sugar e.g. 4:1 ratio however the heating time doubles, increasing to approx. 1 hour. I used a digital thermometer and compared it with a traditional jam making thermometer. There was a delayed offset between them and if the thermometer is not accurate will change the final outcome of your fondant. My past attempts always ended up making hard candy not fondant. I did some research on the internet and found a good formula used for cake decorating. Trials found the recipe above is great for feeding bees and can also be adapted for thymol patties.

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