Patent ID: 8293303

Claim:
A process for producing a low-calorie ice cream, comprising: heating whole milk to a predetermined temperature; adding milk cream; tagatose, sorbitol; a stabilizer; an emulsifier; and a natural sweetener into the preheated whole milk and mixing into a mixture; wherein the natural sweetener comprises sweet glycosides, wherein the sweet glycosides are produced from Stevia rebaudiana leaves by a method; and wherein the method comprises the following steps: a) drying Stevia rebaudiana leaves; b) treating the dried Stevia rebaudiana leaves with water to extract sweet glycosides, wherein a leaves-water mixture is formed; c) filtering the leaves-water mixture to obtain an aqueous filtrate; d) directly treating the aqueous filtrate with calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide to raise the pH of the aqueous filtrate to about 10; e) directly neutralizing the treated aqueous filtrate with trivalent iron chloride; and f) filtrating the neutralized aqueous filtrate to obtain a filtrated aqueous filtrate, and evaporating the filtrated aqueous filtrate to dryness to obtain purified sweet glycosides; pasteurizing the mixture; aging the mixture; and adding flavor and coloring into the aged mixture; whereby produce the low-calorie ice cream.