Dear Bill and all

I was always surprised that "The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture" (A.I. Root) suggested to use tartaric acid to invert sugar to make syrup. 
Why not to suggest citric acid? if it is more easy to have a lemon plant that to buy tartaric acid.

Later I saw that tartaric acid, who cames from must, is allowed to use in wine production as calcium chelator. Then I thought ABC author suggested tartaric acid because calcium is the more important component of Nosema apis' spores and Nosema do not grows if the calcium level of the "breeding ground" is poor.

I also heard in 90' about one study who said that this method to make syrup makes a lot of HMF but I do not heard about further replication of those essays. 
In the other hand to promote the adition of tartaric acid into syrup is not a profitable business, so I heard a lot of people suggesting to use Fumagiline instead of "a dangerous adition of tartaric acid into syrup".
 
In 90' also many beekeepers in my area used tartaric acid to make syrup and I did the same without problems. 
Ten years ago I checked in laboratory that we can invert sugars with tartaric acid at 100ºC in a 2:1 (sugar:water syrup), getting less than 40 meq/kg of HMF.

I recognize that Nosema it is not a problem in my area and neither the syrup with tartaric acid for old beekeepers.
We used this method mainly to invert sugars but the ABC suggestion is making noise in my head as a prophylactic measure against Nosema, isn't it?

I think it could be interesting to check levels of HMF in sugar syrup with tartaric acid again and to study if calcium chelator effect of tartaric acid has impact in Nosema grow.

Best regards
Fernando

Fernando Esteban
CORDOBA - ARG
+54 (9) 351 4597264

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