Effect of carrier oils on the physicochemical properties of orange oil beverage emulsions

• Carrier oils can improve the physicochemical properties of beverage emulsions.
• Emulsions with carrier oils have different tolerances against environmental stresses.
• Long chain triglycerides have more advantages on improving physical stability.
• Carrier oils cannot change the original viscoelastic behavior of beverage emulsions.

In this study, the effect of carrier oils on the physicochemical properties of orange oil beverage emulsions was investigated. The beverage emulsions were prepared by soybean soluble polysaccharides (SSPS) using a two-stage processing of homogenization. Results showed that the presence of carrier oils could improve the physical properties of beverage emulsions, including droplet size, size distribution and turbidity, compared with only orange oil in oil phase of the beverage emulsion. And the effect of long chain triglycerides on the physical stabilities of beverage emulsions was significant (p < 0.05) than that with medium chain triglycerides (MCT). The oxidation rate of orange oil in the emulsion was faster compared to that of the orange oil/carrier oils in emulsions. However, the rheological properties of beverage emulsions were hardly dependent on the carrier oils. In addition, all the emulsions exhibited near-Newtonian fluid behavior. These findings revealed that the physicochemical properties of the beverage emulsions could be effectively improved by the presence of carrier oils.