A method of making a flavoured sweetener or food product by incubating an unrefined plant extract containing sucrose as the main solute with a microorganism or microorganisms to form a modified unrefined plant extract; evaporating water from the modified sucrose-based plant extract to form a concentrate; and cooking the concentrate to develop colour and flavour to produce the flavoured sweetener is disclosed. The flavoured sweetener can serve as a coconut sugar substitute. In a preferred embodiment the unrefined plant extract comprises sugarcane juice or sugar beet juice, and the microorganisms may be selected from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus flexus, or a Klyveromyces species. The flavoured sweetener can be used to make a range of food and beverage ingredients and also food products including sauces, natural flavour extracts and flavour molecules, chocolate, health foods and convenience forms of the various forms of flavoured sweeteners.

A method of making a flavoured sweetener or food product by incubating an unrefined plant extract containing sucrose as the main solute with a microorganism or microorganisms to form a modified unrefined plant extract; evaporating water from the modified sucrose-based plant extract to form a concentrate; and cooking the concentrate to develop colour and flavour to produce the flavoured sweetener is disclosed. The flavoured sweetener can serve as a coconut sugar substitute. In a preferred embodiment the unrefined plant extract comprises sugarcane juice or sugar beet juice, and the microorganisms may be selected from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus flexus, or a Klyveromyces species. The flavoured sweetener can be used to make a range of food and beverage ingredients and also food products including sauces, natural flavour extracts and flavour molecules, chocolate, health foods and convenience forms of the various forms of flavoured sweeteners.

The application relates to a method for producing a sugar product and a system thereof comprising receiving a first input in a control system representative of a pre-treatment sugar composition characteristic and/or an additive; receiving a second input representative of a post-treatment sugar product target specification; using the control system to determine at least one operating parameter for addition of the additive to the pre-treatment sugar and adding the additive based on the at least one determined operating parameter, wherein the at least one determined operating parameter is determined from at least: the first input, the second input, and a correlation relating at least the first input and the second input to the at least one operating parameter; and treating the pre-treatment sugar composition by addition of the additive to produce a post-treatment sugar product with a characteristic that is at or nearer to the target specification than the characteristic of the pre-treatment sugar composition. The system includes at least one spray system for addition of an additive to a pre-treatment sugar composition; at least one sensor for determining one or both of a pre-treatment sugar composition characteristic, or an additive characteristic, and a post-treatment sugar product characteristic and a control system configured to operate as mentioned above.

The application relates to a method for producing a sugar product and a system thereof comprising receiving a first input in a control system representative of a pre-treatment sugar composition characteristic and/or an additive; receiving a second input representative of a post-treatment sugar product target specification; using the control system to determine at least one operating parameter for addition of the additive to the pre-treatment sugar and adding the additive based on the at least one determined operating parameter, wherein the at least one determined operating parameter is determined from at least: the first input, the second input, and a correlation relating at least the first input and the second input to the at least one operating parameter; and treating the pre-treatment sugar composition by addition of the additive to produce a post-treatment sugar product with a characteristic that is at or nearer to the target specification than the characteristic of the pre-treatment sugar composition. The system includes at least one spray system for addition of an additive to a pre-treatment sugar composition; at least one sensor for determining one or both of a pre-treatment sugar composition characteristic, or an additive characteristic, and a post-treatment sugar product characteristic and a control system configured to operate as mentioned above.

A fortified date fruit product includes date fruit sugar and one or more mineral phosphate nanostructures. The mineral phosphate nanostructures can be selected from one or more of calcium phosphate, zinc phosphate, and iron phosphate nanostructures, among others. The mineral phosphate nanostructures can have a particle size ranging from about 5 nm to about 100 nm, e.g., about 5 nm to about 20 nm, about 50 nm to about 100 nm, and about 75 nm to about 100 nm.

A fortified date fruit product includes date fruit sugar and one or more mineral phosphate nanostructures. The mineral phosphate nanostructures can be selected from one or more of calcium phosphate, zinc phosphate, and iron phosphate nanostructures, among others. The mineral phosphate nanostructures can have a particle size ranging from about 5 nm to about 100 nm, e.g., about 5 nm to about 20 nm, about 50 nm to about 100 nm, and about 75 nm to about 100 nm.

In a maceration conveyor assembly (10) a juice deflector (50) deflects juice around a return run of a conveyor into a trough (51). Preferably the juice deflector and trough are configured as opposed axially extending V-shaped stainless steel plates. The assembly (10) feeds into a first mill (11) of a milling tandem, and output from the mill (11) is delivered onto another conveyor and carried to the next mill in the tandem. Low pol maceration liquid is returned to the conveyor via return lines to respective distribution weirs (16) and (17). The conveyor assembly (10) includes an inlet end (20) and an outlet end (21) all supported on a supporting framework (22) so that the assembly is inclined from the inlet end (20) to the outlet end (22). An endless plate conveyor (25) comprises interconnected perforated plates (26) adapted to pivot relative to each other in chain like fashion.

In a maceration conveyor assembly (10) a juice deflector (50) deflects juice around a return run of a conveyor into a trough (51). Preferably the juice deflector and trough are configured as opposed axially extending V-shaped stainless steel plates. The assembly (10) feeds into a first mill (11) of a milling tandem, and output from the mill (11) is delivered onto another conveyor and carried to the next mill in the tandem. Low pol maceration liquid is returned to the conveyor via return lines to respective distribution weirs (16) and (17). The conveyor assembly (10) includes an inlet end (20) and an outlet end (21) all supported on a supporting framework (22) so that the assembly is inclined from the inlet end (20) to the outlet end (22). An endless plate conveyor (25) comprises interconnected perforated plates (26) adapted to pivot relative to each other in chain like fashion.

A method comprising: (a) providing a partially processed sucrose crop product containing at least 2% optionally at least 5% of the sucrose content of said crop at harvest on a dry solids basis, cellulose and lignin; (b) hydrolyzing said partially processed crop product with HCl to produce an acid hydrolyzate stream and a lignin stream; and (c) de-acidifying said hydrolyzate stream to produce a de-acidified sugar solution and an HCl recovery stream. Additional, methods, systems and sugar mixtures are also disclosed.

A method comprising: (a) providing a partially processed sucrose crop product containing at least 2% optionally at least 5% of the sucrose content of said crop at harvest on a dry solids basis, cellulose and lignin; (b) hydrolyzing said partially processed crop product with HCl to produce an acid hydrolyzate stream and a lignin stream; and (c) de-acidifying said hydrolyzate stream to produce a de-acidified sugar solution and an HCl recovery stream. Additional, methods, systems and sugar mixtures are also disclosed.