Making of fondant

[thurrock bees]

Hi all
I checked the bees today and was amazed that most of my hives had eated about half of their stores !!
On speaking to a fellow beek who is not on here, he advised about making my own foundant rather than buying.
All he said was to mix icing sugar and water till it becomes soild???
Any veiws on using ising suagr??

 

[VEG]

Icing sugar is fine to use.

 

[MJBee]

Icing Sugar very expensive. Check out Frisbees method - 2nd sticky at the top of the "Beekeeping" section - I cannot find Baker's Fondant over here so made my own last year, with guidance from Frisbee and it worked a treat

Regards Mike

 

[victor meldrew]

Hi all
I checked the bees today and was amazed that most of my hives had eated about half of their stores !!
On speaking to a fellow beek who is not on here, he advised about making my own foundant rather than buying.
All he said was to mix icing sugar and water till it becomes soild???
Any veiws on using ising suagr??

Not as simple as that , mix needs boiling to about 240 C.
Please use the search engine on this site the, quantities plus technique is well documented

John Wilkinson

 

[jezd]

I'm smiling given the other thread, give some of that 200lb of honey back !!!

only kidding

 

[thurrock bees]

I'm smiling given the other thread, give some of that 200lb of honey back !!!

only kidding

all sold, they had plenty of stores but they have used it up

 

[Frisbee]

Mixing icing sugar with water will give you a paste, it will be very difficult to handle and as a minimum amount of water would be used to achieve a thick enough paste to manipulate, the icing sugar won't have actually dissolved in the water. I don't know if I would recommend it or not really I have no experience apart from making water icing for cakes, it is a world apart from syrup or fondant, if you don't want to make fondant then go and buy some. There are plenty of other threads on here explaining where it can be bought from...........and don't go to the supermarket and buy roll-out icing which is also called fondant icing, not the same product as boiled fondant.

Frisbee

 

[oliver90owner]

John, I think you will be making toffee at 240 C, charred at that. 105 C is more than enough! Methinks you are on old units!

Regards, RAB

 

[thurrock bees]

Wow, all this advice on less than a hour, well thanks for the info, someone has pm me and sold some to me,(thanks), hoever im going to make some and see if it works or weather i will get stuck in the kitchen in a very sticky mess lol

 

[Finman]

.
Is it possible still to give syrup there? Weathers seems not too bad?

http://www.iessex.co.uk/weather/

 

[Frisbee]

105 C is more than enough! Methinks you are on old units!

Regards, RAB

115/6c actually. 105 is for jam making.

Frisbee

 

[BKF Admin]

If you add Cream of tartar or lemon juice to the mix you can invert the sucrose to Glucose and fructose,it will be better for the bees to digest and they will use less energy?

I read you should never have heat going when adding the sugar as it could caramalise releasing the same nasty stuff as is released when heating honey.

 

[Frisbee]

I read you should never have heat going when adding the sugar as it could caramalise releasing the same nasty stuff as is released when heating honey.

It won't caramelize, but you run the risk of not dissolving all the sugar crystals. Add sugar to cold water, stir well and slowly heat, keeping stirring until all the crystals have dissolved, then you can heat more rapidly.

I suppose technically if you have your pan on heat and add sugar and then water, then the dry sugar above the heat in a hot pan could caramelize before you get the water stirred into it. Cold water, cold pan.

Frisbee

 

[Hivemaker.]

Some sources suggest using cream of tartar in the recipe, but both of the above point out that acid-inverted sugar is toxic to bees (LE Dills, 1925) and that if inversion is desired then only enzyme inverted sugar should be used. However, Johansson points out that 'The addition of acid arrests inversion, and accelerates crystallisation, which argues against the long-established rationale for inverting sugar syrup in the first instance.'

I telephoned my supplier of Bakers' Fondant (used by many large-scale beekeepers in the UK) to establish the technical specifications and method of production. They tell me that the fondant consists of: sugar 74.5% ± 0.5%, glucose solids 14.5% ± 0.5%, water 11.0% ± 0.5%. The ingredients are heated just to boiling point (approx 221ºF) and are then stirred in a creamer until cool. This produces a soft, fine-grain sugar paste.

I would suggest that the term 'fondant' should be used only for this type of sugar paste and the term 'candy' be used where the mixture is heated to a higher temperature (typically above 234ºF) in order to evaporate some of the water and make a more solid product. The one thing that is clear is that it would seem to be unwise to add cream of tartar!

http://hirschbachapiary.com/Feeding_bees_with_Fondant.aspx

 

[BKF Admin]

Thanks Hivemaker,interesting that they stir until cool,I may give it a go as I have a few hundred LB more sugar than I want to store.

 

[BKF Admin]

Is it possible still to give syrup there? Weathers seems not too bad?

Finman what do you think the lowest temp should be for feeding syrup, 10deg ?

 

[Frisbee]

Thanks Hivemaker,interesting that they stir until cool,I may give it a go as I have a few hundred LB more sugar than I want to store.

What they achieve in a factory is not what you will achieve in your kitchen admin, make it like that yourself and you'll end up with a fine syrup.

Frisbee

 

[BKF Admin]

Frisbee are you starting to question my culinary skills?
Message understood..

 

[Frisbee]

Frisbee are you starting to question my culinary skills?

Absolutely not...................

Did you know..........changing the subject somewhat from sugar boiling to bread............that factory made bread is whisked at high speed, this high speed whisking incorporates enough air into the dough that yeast isn't needed to raise it (as air expands when hot) they have to put yeast in for the flavour though.........what they can do in a factory with a fancy machine..........

Frisbee

 

[BKF Admin]

I never new that,I love those sort of facts