Clam Shell Flipping

Flipping clam shells so the sugar cake bottoms dry out. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Clam Shell Flipping

It sounds like an athletic sport of sorts, doesn’t it. Actually, I found an easier way to dry my winter supplemental sugar cakes for my honey bees without making a mess out of my kitchen.

Up until now, I was repurposing those clear fruit clam shells to make the supplemental sugar cakes. To be able to use them in a hive, they need to dry out first. The clam shells make it convenient for sizing the sugar cakes as well as storing them in a cold oven until they dry.

However.

The bottom of the sugar cakes need to dry out as well. That’s where the mess came in.

Have you tried to turn a wet pail of sand? So you know what happens when you try to turn a half dry rectangle of sugar.

As I was starting to pop the sugar blocks out of the clam shells to try to turn them, the clam shell fell over on its own, turning the sugar cake on its head.

Gingerly trying this out with the rest of the clam shells, I discovered I could easily turn the clam shells over, still full of the sugar cakes, leaving the sugar cake bottoms exposed to air to dry. Without taking them out of the clam shells.

No messy kitchen. Back in the cold oven they went on cookie sheets to complete the drying out process.

The sugar is not dripping out of the clam shells and I don’t have sugar at the bottom of my oven.

I think that makes this tip a 10, don’t you?

Charlotte