Process for the preparation of sweetener containing product

Claim 1

A process of preparing a cryptocrystalline sweetener containing product, which process comprises: spraying in a fine liquid spray within a vessel and into the cooler atmosphere within the vessel, through heated spray nozzles, a heated, aqueous, low-viscosity, high-solids, sweetener solution selected from the group consisting of an aqueous solution of sorbitol, sucrose fructose, mannitol, glucose, and combinations thereof, having a temperature of from about 180° F. to 315° F., and containing about 70% to 99.5% by weight of sweetener, and employing in the spraying operation cool, compressed, dry, air, which cool, compressed air is introduced into the heated spray nozzles, and wherein the heated solution is maintained in a heated condition up to the point of spraying, and wherein the compressed air has a temperature of from about 40° F. to 120° F. and is employed at a pressure of from about 40 to 125 psi, and wherein the change in phase from a liquid to a solid of the sweetener solution occurs without the substantial loss of moisture during the spraying operation, to provide for the formation in the atmosphere within the vessel of a fine particle-size, cryptocrystalline, sweetener product having a particle size of less than about 5 microns, and admixing the fine-particle-size product with a food or confectionary product.