Confectionery product

1. A method of preparing a confectionery product comprising the steps of:

a. preparing an emulsion of an aqueous core material and a hydrophobic first coating material;

b. forming droplets of emulsion, thereby providing a droplet with an aqueous core and a hydrophobic first coating layer;

c. coating the droplets with a hydrophilic second coating material to form beads with a second coating layer surrounding the first coating layer, wherein the hydrophilic second coating layer is a panned sugar coating; and

d. incorporating a plurality of the beads into the confectionery product.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the emulsion is formed at a temperature above the melting point of the hydrophobic first coating material and the aqueous core.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the droplets of emulsion are cooled to below the melting point of the hydrophobic first coating material.

4. A method according to claim 1 comprising the additional step of coating the droplets formed in step b with a powder.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the emulsion droplets are coated in a panning process.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the panning process is a soft panning process.

7. A method according to claim 5 wherein the panning process is a hard panning process.

8. A method of preparing a confectionery product according to claim 1 comprising a step selected from: embedding a plurality of the beads on the surface of the product; mixing a plurality of the beads into at least a portion of the product so that they are substantially entirely encased within the product; or a combination thereof.

9. A method according to claim 1 wherein the product is selected from a chocolate product, candy, chewing gum or a combination thereof.