Patent ID: 8790730

Claim:
A process for producing a low-calorie sweetener composition, comprising: a) providing a low intensity sweetener; b) providing a crystallization inhibitor; c) dissolving the sucrose and crystallization inhibitor in water to make a solution with 60% to 80% (w/w) total solids content; d) purging the solution (c) with nitrogen to obtain a purged sugar solution; e) providing a high intensity sweetener; f) dissolving the high intensity sweetener in water to obtain a high intensity sweetener solution with about 10% to about 70% (w/w) solids; g) adding the high intensity sweetener solution to the purged sugar solution to obtain a sweetener composition solution containing about 50% to about 80% (w/w) total solids; h) evaporating the sweetener composition solution to obtain a concentrated sweetener composition solution with about 90% to about 97% (w/w) solids content; i) feeding the concentrated sweetener composition solution to an impact beating apparatus to induce intensive crystallization and residual water evaporation, and to produce free flowing granules of the sweetener composition; j) drying the granules to form the low-calorie sweetener composition.