ABSTRACT
The drying of acid and sugar rich foods in order to use them as functional ingredients, has gained much attention throughout the world. This chapter focuses on the various complications associated with the spray drying of acid and sugar rich foods, and the most economical solutions to overcome them. Spray drying is the most economic and a single-step technique where the feedstock is atomized against the hot gas current to produce the powder instantaneously. Acid and sugar rich foods that predominately cause difficulties in the process of spray drying consist of low-molecular-weight sugars and organic acids. The spray-drying process is widely employed in the food industry to convert acid and sugar rich foods into particulates on the basis of good economic viability, physical properties of the powder, and short drying time. In the food industry, spray drying is a widely used and economic drying technique, as it requires short exposure to heat and results in particles with good solubility.
