Enhancement of the formation and stability of low-fat Pickering emulsion gels stabilized with egg yolk granules-chitosan complex: Insights into the development of mayonnaise substitutes

This study employed egg yolk granules (EYG) in combination with chitosan (CS) to evaluate the feasibility of constructing low-fat Pickering emulsion gels and investigated the properties of emulsion gels with different oil volume fractions (0-50 %) to address the stability issue. The results showed that the self-supporting structure of the emulsion gels gradually increased at 0-40 % oil phase, and the oil droplet sizes were all smaller than 10 mu m. However, when the oil phase reached 50 %, the emulsion showed water-oil phase separation. The addition of oil modified the state and movement of water molecules in the emulsion system, which in turn affected the water and oil loss rates. Notably, the emulsion gels exhibited similar rheological and textural characteristics to mayonnaise at 30 % oil phase. Furthermore, the emulsion gels demonstrated promising centrifugation and freeze-thaw stability. This study suggests an innovative and efficient approach to low-fat mayonnaise substitution with consistent quality.