Oat flour as a novel stabiliser for designing plant-based Pickering emulsion

Supporting the need for sustainable food products, this study aims to develop plant-based Pickering emulsions (PBPEs) using oat flour with and without mild chemical treatment. Wholesome oat flour was investigated for developing oil-in-water PBPEs with varying oil content. The control (CO) and mild chemically treated (CH) oat particles were analysed for particle size, surface charge and particle morphology, while the resulting oat-Pickering emulsions (OPEs) were characterised for particle size, creaming stability, and microstructure. With both the CO and CH oat Pickering stabilisers (having D4,3 1.24 μm and 1.34 μm, respectively), the OPEs exhibited exceptional stability against creaming and coalescence. CH-OPEs with 40% oil content exhibited significantly smaller droplet sizes (D3,2: 8.96 μm) and the lowest creaming index (0.0%) in contrast with CO-OPEs (D3,2: 14.52 μm, CI: 10.40%). Thus, these findings can be of great importance for developing plant-based Pickering systems to formulate functional foods.