Pickering emulsions stabilized by food-grade particles have garnered increasing interest in recent years due to their promising applications in biorelated fields such as foods, cosmetics, and drug delivery. However, it remains a big challenge to formulate nanoscale Pickering emulsions from these edible particles. Herein we show that a new Pickering nanoemulsion that is stable, monodisperse, and controllable can be produced by employing the spherical micellar nanoparticles (EYPNs), self-assembled from the food-derived, amphiphilic egg yolk peptides, as an edible particulate emulsifier. As natural peptide-based nanoparticles, the EYPNs have a small particle size, intermediate wettability, high surface activity, and deformability at the interface, which enable the formation of stable Pickering nanodroplets with a mean dynamic light scattering diameter below 200 nm and a polydispersity index below 0.2. This nanoparticle system is versatile for different oil phases with various polarities and demonstrates the easy control of nanodroplet size through tuning the microfluidization conditions or the ratio of EYPNs to oil phase. These food-grade Pickering nanoemulsions, obtained when the internal phase is an edible vegetable oil, have superior stability during long-term storage and spray-drying based on the irreversible and compact adsorption of intact EYPNs at the nanodroplet surface. This is the first finding of a natural edible nano-Pickering emulsifier that can be used solely to make stable food Pickering nanoemulsions with the qualities of simplicity, versatility, low cost, and the possibility of controllable and mass production, which make them viable for many sustainable applications.

The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of pH (3, 7 and 9) as well as ionic strength of NaCl (0mmol/l, 100mmol/l, 200mmol/l and 400mmol/l) on the retention and release characteristics of diacetyl and (−)-α-pinene in oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions prepared with dried egg yolk (DEY) or starch sodium octenylsuccinate (SOE). Increase of pH from 3 to 9 progressively enhanced retention of diacetyl in emulsions prepared with both DEY and SOE. Whereas, in samples flavoured with (−)-α-pinene, the highest and lowest retention time-courses were detected at pH 9 and pH 7 as well as pH 7 and pH 3 regarding emulsions prepared with DEY as well as SOE, respectively. With increasing salt concentration, the retention of diacetyl was decreased, irrespectively of the applied emulsifier type, whereas generally opposite effects were observed in the case of (−)-α-pinene. The parameters of release characteristics i.e., release rate constants (k) and release mechanism factors (n), were calculated using Avrami’s equation. ANOVA revealed significant effects (p<0.001) of pH and NaCl concentration on k parameters, whereas relationship between applied environmental conditions and n factors was dependent on hydrophobicity of the odourant. Sensory evaluation revealed higher correlation values between odour intensity and aroma compound concentration in emulsions aromatized with (−)-α-pinene than with diacetyl.