Ambrosia and others.
Ambrosia is an excellent product, and anyone who says home made syrup and this product are equivalent plainly have a radically different viewpoint on 'eqivalent' from me. ( No making up work, which costs, and never ever any waste or deterioration win it for me all the time, a feeder not emptied in autumn can just be left and they take it in spring.)
However....history first. Api-Invert is the original, and still by far the most popular Europe wide of these syrups. It was originally made by the German sugar entity of the day. this entity was split up into Nordzucker and Sudzucker, and the bee syrup went with the portfolio that was held by Sudzucker.
Nordzucker wanted a share of that market, so with only a marginal teak to the Api-Invert recipe, they launched Ambrosia. I am not aware of their extent of testing, but for sure the team at Sudzucker have done a LOT of research and have excellent publicity material and 'directions for use' literature available. Nordzuckers literature is comparatively scanty.
Have used at least 100 tonnes of both products over the years and both are excellent and no discernable difference. Both are made from beet sugar entirely btw, so no corn syrup input. Also they are made by enzymatic processes. The poster who said they were acid inverted is wrong, that is 1950's technology long since superceded. In fact ALL the syrups on the market formulated for bee feeding are enzymatically produced. There are at least 10 products available nowadays.
Ambrosia is the best known of these products in the UK and Denmark, due in the main to the marketing efforts of Knud Hvam and his staff plus UK associates, in fact I was a reseller of the stuff in the early days. However price became a serious issue, as trying to sell it on at a profit was hard given that others took in large orders and passed it on at cost. Cost price itself also became an issue as of course, via Denmark, who hold the sole rights to the UK for Ambrosia, there is an extra margin involved. Brilliant product....too many bites at the cherry already.
So, changed over to Api-Invert for a couple of seasons and was able to get factory gate pricing, and immediately saved best part of £80 a tonne, for a product that, marginally higher fructose content apart, is identical to Ambrosia. ( Sudzucker staff have described Ambrosia as a 'knock off' of their product..........oh and btw.they are NOT made in the same factory.)
For the last three years however we have used neither product. We now use Apisuc, a Belgian version similar to both the German products, and saved even more money! Absolutely NO difference discernable in the bees, and we have done side by side trials of four main products simultaneously (Api-Invert, Ambrosia, Apisuc, Tetrapi ) and found only the Tetrapi to be significantly inferior to the others. ( Tetrapi btw is only available purchased through France, but I have been told it is actually made in the UK, unsure of the reliability of that.) IF, and it is a big IF, I had to say which product was best, I would have to say Api-Invert but only by a whisker.
FYI, I have been arranging supplies of Apisuc for others. I am not on here seeking clients please note, just to give info about the true price levels for these types of product. Whole tankers delivered to UK addresses for well under £600 per tonne. Under 60p a kilo. They also do the same range of bee foods sold by others, and have one of the few fondant making plants in Europe ( all fondant is made in only a tiny number of places, mostly in Belgium, and branded with other companies manes). Have visited the factory, met and talked with their researchers, and am greatly impressed with their set up and service. ( Ex Sudzucker staff run the company btw.)
No intention of ever going back to traditional syrup again.
