Hello All:
 
I have become interested in the topic of fondant (I think some of my hives
are a little light this winter and it is now COLD).  Here in Prince Edward
Island we are quite limited in the types of feeding materials that are
available.  For instance, to obtain HFCS is near impossible.  But glucose is
something that is used commonly at the dairy plant for ice cream.
 
Murray McGregor does not mention what the ingredients are in the commercial
fondant blocks that he purchases.  Ruary Rudd does not use glucose in his
fondant.  But when I look up fondant in a search engine and look at several
different formulae, I see that many of them use about twenty percent glucose
in the sugar portion.
 
When I look at the sugars making up an "average" honey (Hive and the
Honeybee) I see that one of the major sugars is dextrose (which is
d-glucose) or right handed glucose in the way it will reflect polarized
light as I understand it.  But of the many sugars which are minor
consituents of honey regular glucose is not even listed.  So I am wondering
how this left handed/right handed stuff affects the bees.  They have
invertase to break down sucrose into simple sugars.  What do they do if the
simple sugar is a mirror image of what they normally use?  Is glucose good
bee feed?
 
regards, Stan