Sugar,Glucose Syrup ,Palm Oil ,Humectant (Glycerine) ,Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids) ,Stabilisers (Xanthan Gum, Cellulose) ,Preservative (Potassium Sorbate) ,Flavouring
(
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=250535664)
Actually, it won't harm your bees in the least. (Source - Terry Clare BIBBA - he uses it in queen rearing.)
Whether or not you choose to boycott Palm Oil is up to you, but it ain't easy!
The main reason against using Tesco's fondant is cost.
"Bakers' Fondant" (actually Bako White Fondant) is about £1/kilo - but you have to buy it in 12.5 kg boxes, and through a friendly baker.
If you need fondant in Spring, you'll need plural kilos - so it does make sense to get the big pack (unless you decide that you need it today - when you should get down to Tesco immediately).
I don't reckon to trust weighing (let alone hefting) wooden hives to be absolutely
accurate, because the wood does seem to take up a bit of water... and any weight that you have that is water is going to make you wrongly complacent about the amount of stores remaining.
So when you get a decently warm day (as sometimes happens in Feb), take a look and see if you still have any "heavy frames". You shouldn't even need to pull them right out - but some frame-by-frame hefting will give you a pretty good idea of what stores remain.
I reckon you want to see 5 to 10 kg of stores remaining.
The concern is that once brood rearing starts, the rate of consumption increases drastically, and things can get dangerously empty quite suddenly.
Over-feeding makes for problems (fun) for the beekeeper (needing to act to prevent early swarming), but under-feeding risks the survival of the colony. So, I think its better to err on the side of generosity. For the hobby beek, its a tiny expense. The commercial operator would try to be cleverer!
