Milled corn silk particles-stabilized Pickering emulsion-based oleogel/bigel: Effect of gelator-colloidal particles...

Conversion of agricultural waste into high-value food products is vital for sustainable food development. In this study, corn silk, an agricultural waste, was modified using media milling as particles to stabilize Pickering emulsions, which were further developed as Pickering emulsion based bigels. The particle size and apparent polyphenol content of milled corn silk particles (CSPs) were 819.87 ± 84.51 nm and 1.20 ± 0.04 (g GAE/100 g DW), respectively. CSPs stabilized Pickering emulsion exhibited outstanding storage ability at various pH (2-8) and ionic strength (50-400 mM) conditions. Moreover, interactions of gelators-CSPs on physicochemical, 3D printing and digestion properties of these Pickering emulsion-based oleogel/bigels were revealed. With increasing oleogel content, these bigels changed from oleogel-in-hydrogel to hydrogel-in-oleogel structure. The bigels with 30% and 50% oleogel showed excellent 3D printing performance. The bigels with oleogel-in-hydrogel structure exhibited the highest free fatty acid release (49.93 ± 5.8%) and antioxidant activity (24.01 ± 1.13 mmol Vc/g) during simulated digestion. These findings highlight the potential of CSPs stabilized Pickering emulsion based-oleogel/bigels as functional food products and provide valuable guidance for developing Pickering emulsion based-oleogel/bigels from agricultural waste.