Wow, Lloyd's offhand question is taking us into a 
twisty maze of considerations here.

>> The cream of tartar is also helping to prevent 
>> crystallization into big ugly crystals. 

> Cream of Tartar is implicated in increased bee mortality.

It has been?  By who?
Well, if the recipe is not followed, I guess it would be 
possible for some or even most of the cream of tartar
to not react with the sucrose, but if you have the right
temperature and enough mixing, I can't see how any would
remain unreacted in the final mix.

Has anyone blaming cream of tatar for bee mortality 
done an actual analysis of the bee candy or fondant
finding an impurity?  If so, why haven't the recipes
changed to reflect their findings?  (Wish I still
had my HPLC/MS.)

Is it a matter of "use less", or "even traces are deadly"?
Has anyone written anything that looks authoritative on
this?

One could use less sugar and more corn sryup, and thereby
eliminate the need for the cream of tartar, I guess,
but you'd have to do a MUCH better job of mixing to
get the same end product.  One could also use lemon juice 
or vinegar rather than cream of tartar, but I don't see
how even the entire 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar 
(potassium hydrogen tartrate) in 15 lbs of sugar would
be a significant contaminant of the final product, even
if none of it reacted at all, which would be impossible.

In candy-making, 2 teaspoons of (fresh-squeezed!) lemon juice 
or 2 teaspoons of vinegar equals 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
in terms of the acidic breakdown of sucrose, but each might
create their own unique problem, if cream of tartar causes
a problem.

Fair warning, "Lemon juice" is complicated. Fresh-squeezed 
lemon juice has a very acidic pH, like 2 or 2.5, while the bottled
stuff has a lower pH, 4.0 - 4.5, as it contains the preservative 
sodium benzoate.  So, if you must use the bottled stuff, you'll
not have the same amount of acid per teaspoon, and may need to 
double the amount you use.  (Candy is hyper-technical tricky.)

Next week, on "Man Does Live By Honey Alone", we'll 
cover baking bread on your overheating extractor motor. :)

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************