The present invention relates to a agave syrup product having a low water content. The agave syrup product retains the physical and palatable properties of untreated agave syrup while having a prolonged shelf-life. It can be advantageously used to sweeten beverages (such as hot beverages) and in the manufacture of pharmaceutical compositions (such as throat lozenges) and/or confectionary.

Disclosed is pearl sugar, having a biggest dimension between 5.6 and 8.0 mm, and a dissolution time at 20 C. lying between 3 minutes and 8 minutes, or a biggest dimension of smaller than 5.6, and a dissolution time at 20 C. lying between 1 minute and 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The invention further relates to a process for the preparation of pearl sugar, using a sugar-containing raw material which is brought to a moisture content lying between 0.5 and 4.0 wt. %, an average size of between 0.40 and 1.20 mm, and whereby at most 2 wt. % of particles have a size of at most 0.20 mm.

A method of making a sugar powder that includes creating a sugar solution which is below supersaturation and in which sugar crystals are completely dissolved so that the sugar solution is crystal free, mixing the sugar solution with gelatinised starch to form a mixture which is a colloidal suspension drying the mixture to obtain an intermediate, substantially crystal fee product, and working the intermediate product into a powder.

The present invention relates to a maple syrup product having a low water content. The maple syrup product retains the physical and palatable properties of untreated maple syrup while having a prolonged shelf-life. It can be advantageously used to sweeten beverages (such as hot beverages) and in the manufacture of pharmaceutical compositions (such as throat lozenges) and/or confectionery.

The present invention relates to a agave syrup product having a low water content. The agave syrup product retains the physical and palatable properties of untreated agave syrup while having a prolonged shelf-life. It can be advantageously used to sweeten beverages (such as hot beverages) and in the manufacture of pharmaceutical compositions (such as throat lozenges) and/or confectionary.

A system can be used to process liquid materials, such as aqueous-based syrup solutions containing sugar molecules. In some examples, the system includes a processing vessel having multiple individually-controllable temperature zones arranged in series. In operation, an aqueous solution can be introduced into an inlet port of the processing vessel and passed sequentially through the series of temperature zones. Water from the aqueous solution can be evaporated within the initial stage(s) of the processing vessel to form a concentrated solution that is then cooled in subsequent stage(s). Accordingly, a supersaturated solution may be formed from the aqueous solution in the processing vessel that is then solidified to subsequently form a substantially dry solid material (e.g., sugar), still within the processing vessel. The substantially dry solid material can discharge through an exit port of the processing vessel.