Process for manufacturing a sweetener and use thereof

1. A process for producing a low-calorie ice cream, comprising:

heating whole milk to a predetermined temperature;

adding milk cream; tagatose, sorbitol; a stabilizer; an emulsifier; and a natural sweetener into the preheated whole milk and mixing into a mixture; wherein the natural sweetener comprises sweet glycosides, wherein the sweet glycosides are produced from Stevia rebaudiana leaves by a method; and

wherein the method comprises the following steps:

a) drying Stevia rebaudiana leaves;

b) treating the dried Stevia rebaudiana leaves with water to extract sweet glycosides, wherein a leaves-water mixture is formed;

c) filtering the leaves-water mixture to obtain an aqueous filtrate;

d) directly treating the aqueous filtrate with calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide to raise the pH of the aqueous filtrate to about 10;

e) directly neutralizing the treated aqueous filtrate with trivalent iron chloride; and

f) filtrating the neutralized aqueous filtrate to obtain a filtrated aqueous filtrate, and evaporating the filtrated aqueous filtrate to dryness to obtain purified sweet glycosides;

pasteurizing the mixture;

aging the mixture; and

adding flavor and coloring into the aged mixture;

whereby produce the low-calorie ice cream.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the treating step (b) of the method is performed with a water content of at least 5 to 15 liters per 1 kg of dry leaves, a treating time for 0.5-24 hours, and a temperature range between 25-90° C.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the treating step (d) of the method is performed at a temperature range from 40 to 60° C., for 0.5-1 hours.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the following steps:

g) dissolving the purified sweet glycosides in alcohol at ambient temperatures 20-50° C. in an amount of 1:2-1:7 (w/v) to precipitate Stevioside from solution;

h) filtering the solution from step (g) to recover the precipitate of Stevioside;

i) suspending the precipitate of Stevioside obtained in step (h) in an alcohol-water solution to further purify the Stevioside; and

j) recovering the Stevioside with a purity of at least 98%.

5. The process of claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises:

combining remaining alcohol solutions;

removing the alcohol;

ultrafiltering to obtain a filtrate; and

recovering Rebaudioside A with at least 98% of purity.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein the recovering the Rebaudioside A step comprises:

drying the ultrafiltration filtrate;

mixing the ultrafiltration filtrate with an alcohol solution;

filtering and drying to obtain a dried filtrate;

mixing the dried filtrate with dilute alcohol; and

filtering and drying to recover the Rebaudioside A;

wherein the mixing with dilute alcohol step is performed with 92% ethanol at 12° C. for 60 minutes.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the low-calorie ice cream further comprises sugar, green tea extract, salt, citric acid, juniper tincture, ascorbic acid, sodium benzoate, coloring including orange red color, flavor including vanilla, or fruit juice selected from the group consisting of orange, apple, lemon, apricot, cherry, and pineapple.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein

the natural sweetener in the range of 0.001-0.2% (w/w);

the whole milk in the range of 60-80% (w/w);

the milk cream in the range of 5-15% (w/w);

the tagatose in the range of 3-7% (w/w);

the sorbitol in the range of 2-6% (w/w);

the stabilizer in the range of 0.1-0.5% (w/w); and

the emulsifier in the range 0.05-0.5% (w/w); and

wherein the stabilizer is carrageenan, and the emulsifier is polysorbate-80.