Pomelo Fiber-Stabilized Oil-in-Water Emulsion Gels: Fat Mimetic in Plant-Based Ice Cream

Pomelo Fiber-Stabilized Oil-in-Water Emulsion Gels: Fat Mimetic in Plant-Based Ice Cream | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Pomelo Fiber-Stabilized Oil-in-Water Emulsion Gels: Fat Mimetic in Plant-Based Ice Cream Xuerui Li, Shengquan Zhou, Haohan Chen, Ruojie Zhang, Lufeng Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4122056/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Jun, 2024 Read the published version in Food and Bioprocess Technology → Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Plant-based ice cream has become a popular option among consumers as it represents a healthy lifestyle. A critical challenge in current research is creating a stable, oil-based system as a cream substitute. This study investigates using a pomelo fiber and soy protein isolate-based emulsion as a viable cream substitute in ice cream. Findings demonstrate that pomelo fiber, combined with soy protein isolate, effectively stabilizes corn oil, forming an oil-in-water emulsion gel. Increasing the proportion of pomelo fiber increases the elastic modulus of the emulsion, reduces the average particle size and improves stability. The gel emulsion oil enhances stability, reduces the ice cream slurry's stability index, and improves overrun rate and melt resistance. Sensory evaluation confirmed that the emulsion gel, based on pomelo fiber and soy isolate protein, acts as an effective and novel fat mimetic in plant-based ice creams, offering a groundbreaking method for replacing traditional fats in their formulation. Pomelo fiber Plant-based ice cream Fat mimetic Oil-in-Water Emulsion gel Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 1. Introduction Ice cream is a frozen treat that people love for its rich flavor and creamy, cool texture. The fat content of ice cream, which ranges from 10–30%, has a significant impact on the smoothness, melt resistance and other properties of the product (Mehdi, Hadi, & Zahra, 2019 ). The majority of ice cream available currently tends to be high in fat and calories, no longer aligning with the evolving preferences and needs of consumers. However, interest in plant-based foods has increased significantly in recent years due to factors such as allergic reactions, lactose intolerance, adherence to vegan diets and ethical concerns. Foods that are made from plant-based materials or their derivatives – whether with or without additional ingredients - and resembling certain animal foods in terms of texture, taste, shape and other quality characteristics are called plant foods (Grossmann & Mcclements, 2021 ). Vegetable cream, made by hydrogenating vegetable oils, have gained attraction as a way to reduce costs while maintaining a high-quality ice cream texture. However, trans fatty acids in hydrogenated vegetable oils are known for their higher risk to human health and difficulty in metabolic processing by the body (Bajpai et al., 2024 ). Therefore, it is particularly important to study materials that can effectively replace vegetable cream and maintain the stable structure and good sensory evaluation of ice cream. Boff et al. ( 2013a ) reported that when animal fat was replaced with vegetable oil gel, rice bran wax was used as a gelling agent and mixed with sunflower oil, resulting in a significant increase in the overrun rate of plant-based ice cream. Khairullah et al. ( 2020 ) created a nano emulsion by mixing black seed oil with gum Arabic, sodium caseinate and Tween-20 and used it in ice cream. They discovered that the best acceptance and the highest sensory score were attained at 5% Nigella sativa oil nano emulsion. Sung et al. (2010) used sugar, skimmed milk powder, solid fat (palm oil), and liquid fat (sunflower oil) to make ice cream. Blends containing 60–80% solid fat were verified to yield the lowest rates of meltdown, the smallest air bubble sizes, and the highest rates of fat destabilization. It offers recommendations for choosing vegetable fats for ice cream. In recent years, fiber-based fat substitutes have attracted the attention of researchers (Yu et L., 2023). This is mainly because the interaction between cellulose and hemicellulose in fibers allows water to be adsorbed on the surface of the fibers and trapped inside the network structure. The fiber's increased contact area with water or oil is attributed to its rough surface texture, high specific surface area, and loose interstitial microstructure (Chen et al., 2023 ; He et al., 2023). Since fiber can be used instead of fat in foods, successfully lowering fat content, reducing calories but preserving taste (Crizel et al., 2013 ; Kumar et al., 2022 ; O'Shea et al., 2012 ). When fiber is added to ice cream, it not only replaces 70% of the fat, but also adds texture and flavor to the ice cream (Boff et al., 2013a ; Boff et al., 2013b ; Crizel et al., 2013 ; Crizel et al., 2014 ; Yu et al., 2021 ). In recent years, pomelo peel fiber has been used as a raw material for high value-added products due to its high shear strength and strong water and oil holding capacity (Ye et al., 2021). Nonetheless, research into the application of pomelo peel fiber as a substitute for fat in the formulation of plant-based ice cream remains unexplored. This research endeavors to develop an oil-in-water emulsion gel system utilizing soy protein isolate and pomelo fiber for emulsion stabilization. Subsequent exploration revealed the gel's efficacy in substituting cream in ice cream formulations, leading to the innovation of plant-based ice cream. This investigation introduces a novel thinking in the research and development of plant-based ice cream products. 2. Materials and methods 2.1 Materials and regents The Majia pomelo was collected in Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province. Pectinase was purchased from Shanghai Yuanye Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). The soy isolate protein SD-300 was purchased from Mountain Pine Biological Products Co., Ltd (Shandong, China). Corn oil was purchased from Yihai KerryArawana Holdings Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). 2.2 Pomelo fiber preparation The Majia pomelo peel was processed as follows: After drying at 50°C for 48 hours, 10 g of the powdered peel was mixed with 200 mL of water and the pH was adjusted to 3–3.5. Enzymatic treatment with 0.2% pectinase was performed at 45–50°C for 1.5 h and then at 90°C for 15 min. After centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 5 min, the supernatant was removed and the filter residue was dissolved to extract pectin. The remaining residue was mixed with water (ratio 1:20), the pH was adjusted to 8–11 and treated with hydrogen peroxide with stirring at 300 rpm at 75–85°C. The mixture was centrifuged (model 5804R, Eppendorf Ltd.), the filtrate was mixed with hot water (ratio 1:20), the pH was adjusted to 6–8 and stored at 10–60°C and homogenized at 10–30 MPa (UH- 24, Yonglian Bio-technology Co., Ltd.). The final pomelo fiber product was vacuum freeze-dried and ground into powder. 2.3 Emulsion preparation A 1% soy isolate protein solution was first prepared and hydrated overnight. Then, pemolo fibers and corn oil were mixed in different ratios and emulsified using a high-speed shearing machine (XHF-D, Xinzhi Bio-technology Co., Ltd., Ningbo, China) for 4 minutes at 16000 rpm, resulting in a gel-like Emulsions (Liu et al., 2022 ). The exact formulations are listed in Table 1 . Table 1 Basic ingredient proportions in emulsion. Sample Water Corn oil Soy isolate protein Pomelo peel 0 29.7 wt% 70 wt% 0.3 wt% 0 wt% 1 29.55 wt% 70 wt% 0.3 wt% 0.15 wt% 2 29.4 wt% 70 wt% 0.3 wt% 0.3 wt% 3 29.1 wt% 70 wt% 0.3 wt% 0.6 wt% 2.4 Preparation of plant-based ice cream The following ingredients are added to the ice cream in sequence: 9.5% prepared gelatinous emulsion, 12% skimmed milk powder, 12% sugar, 0.1% monoglycerin, 0.3% SE709, 3.5% maltodextrin, 62.6% water. The exact preparation procedure is as follows: (1) Pretreatment of raw materials: Emulsion, sugar, skimmed milk powder and other raw materials were mixed with water by stirring with a mixer. (2) Pasteurization: The ice slurry was put into the sterilizer and run it at 80°C for 15 to 30 seconds. (3) High pressure homogenization: the ice slurry was put into the high pressure homogenizer (20 MPa). (4) Aging: after the ice liquid is homogenized, it is quickly cooled to room temperature and then placed in the fridge (at 4°C) for 4 h. (5) The aging slurry was put into the ice cream freezing machine (MC50+, Meiheng Food Machinery Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China). (6) Hardening: the frozen ice cream was cooled (between − 25 and − 30°C) to facilitate the hardening of the frozen ice cream. (7) Storage and packaging. 2.5 Rheological characteristics analysis of emulsion systems A rotational rheometer (DHR2, TA Instruments, Inc. USA) was used to measure the viscosity and modulus of the emulsions (Ningtyas et al., 2021 ). Viscosity: a 60 mm flat plate was used as the device, the measuring gap was set at 500 µm, the temperature was 25°C, the shear rate range was 0.1–100 s − 1 , the equilibrium time was 60 seconds, the duration was 120 seconds and the data was collected in logarithmic mode. The flow ramp test mode was selected. Linear viscoelastic zone: Select the Oscillation Amplitude test mode, the angular frequency was 10.0 rad/s, the test temperature was 25°C, and one point was taken per ten units of strain change. The elongation change range is 0.001–100%. Select the oscillation frequency sweep test mode, test temperature was 25°C, set the frequency range to 1.0-100 rad/s, use logarithmic (log) mode for data collection, and plot 10 points for every size. 2.6 Analysis of the microstructure, particle size distribution and zeta potential in emulsion systems A drop of an appropriately concentrated emulsion was applied to a stain-free, smooth slide using a 100 µL pipette gun. The slide was then gradually covered with a clear, clean coverslip. The microstructures of the emulsion samples were examined under normal lighting conditions with an optical microscope equipped with a 10x eyepiece and a 40x objective lens and captured on camera with a micro camera system (Ningtyas et al., 2021 ). The average droplet diameter of the emulsions was determined by using a laser particle size analyzer (Mastersizer 2000, Malvern Instruments Inc. USA). The stirring speed was set to 2000 rpm. The volume-weighted average D (4,3) was used to represent the distribution of droplet diameters and to express the mean droplet diameter of the emulsion droplets over the course of three parallel runs (Qi et al., 2021 ). Equation (1) calculates the volume average diameter, which was represented by the particle size D (4,3) (Dervisoglu & Yazici, 2016 ). Where 𝑑 𝑖 is the size of the particle and 𝑛 𝑖 is the number of particles with the same diameter. The zeta potential (ζ potential) of the emulsion samples were determined by using a nanoparticle size potential analyzer (Nano ZS, Malvern Instruments Inc., USA). Before measurement, the samples were diluted to approximately 0.05% with deionized water. Then 1 ml of the solution was pipetted into the cuvette using a pipette gun, which was then placed in the potentiometric bath (Liu et al., 2022 ). 2.7 Evaluation of emulsion stability metrics Thermal stability: A centrifuge tube containing 10 ml of freshly prepared emulsion was left at 4°C, 25°C, 50°C and 80°C for one hour each. Storage stability: On the 1st, 15th and 30th day, 15 mL of the emulsion were placed in glass tubes and stored at 4°C. Centrifuge stability: A centrifuge tube containing 10 ml of emulsion was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 5 minutes. Freezing-thawing stability: Ten milliliters of the emulsion was placed in a centrifuge tube, frozen at -20°C for twenty-four hours, and then thawed at 25°C in the refrigerator for four hours. Each sample was captured with the camera and the condition of the emulsion was noted. 2.8 Assessment of stability parameters in ice cream slurry To check the stability of the ice cream slurry, it was put in a test tube and run in scan mode at a test temperature of 25°C. For the six-hour test, data on transmitted and backscattered light were gathered at 40 µm intervals using a multi-light scatterer (Turbiscan Tower, Formulation, French). Every half an hour, scans are conducted. The stability of the slurry was assessed using the total separation index (TSI) (Xu et al., 2016 ). 2.9 Analysis of overrun and melting rates in ice cream Measure the volume of the aged slurry and weigh it (W 1 ) before pouring it into the ice cream freezer for freeze preparation and shaping. Then measure and weigh the same volume of ice cream (W 2 ), and finally use formula (2) to determine the overrun rate of the ice cream (Ismail et al., 2020 ). Ice cream samples of similar size and shape were removed from the fridge at − 18°C, placed on a 2 mm mesh sieve, and then an appropriately sized petri dish was placed under the sieve. The mass of the melted samples in the petri dish was counted after freezing the sample dish at 25 ± 1°C for 75 min. The original and melted state of the ice cream were noted and the melting rate was calculated using formula (3) (Liu et al., 2024 ). 2.10 Assessment of textural parameters in ice cream The stickiness, chewability and hardness of the ice creams were evaluated using a texture analyzer (TA. XT plus, SMS, UK). Test conditions included a 5 mm diameter P/0.5 probe, a start and retrace rate of 5 mm, a test rate of 3 mm, a penetration depth of 15 mm, and a trigger force of 10 g. Before the tests, the ice creams were taken out of the refrigerator and brought to room temperature, more precisely 0°C (Ningtyas et al., 2021 ). 2.11 Sensory evaluation of ice cream The ice-cream samples were subjected to sensory analysis following the method described by Çam et al. and Muir et al. (2010), with some modifications. An ordinary sensory laboratory with natural light and a temperature of 25°C was used to evaluate the ice cream's sensory qualities. The ice cream's texture, ice crystal feel, refreshing, chewiness, bean flavor, aftertaste, acceptability, and sweetness were assessed by eighteen untrained prospective customers. A 100-point scale was used to calculate the overall score, with 10–13 denoting good quality, 4–9 moderate quality, 1–3 poor quality, 5–9 moderate sweetness, and 1–4 excessively sweet or too light. Every ice cream sample (about 30 g) was put in a colorless and odorless disposable container. Before tasting, samples were thawed to a temperature of roughly − 10°C. Before evaluating each sample without interruption, sensory evaluators had to wash their mouth thoroughly. 2.12 Statistical analysis All samples were tested three times in parallel and data were presented as means and standard deviations (M ± SD). Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the SPSS 20.0 software package (Chicago, USA). Significant differences were determined using Duncan's multiple range tests. The p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The graphical representation including heatmap was created using the Origin 2021 software (Northampton, USA). 3. Results and Discussion 3.1 Microstructure, particle size and zeta potential of emulsions Particle size is one of the factors in assessing the stability of an emulsion, the smaller the particle size of the emulsions, the more stable they become. According to Table 2 , the average particle size of the emulsions without added pomelo fiber is 162 µm. With increasing content of pomelo fibers, the average particle size of the emulsions gradually decreases to 36.88 µm. This is primarily due to the emulsifying properties of the pomelo fiber, which also increases the spatial resistance of the emulsions. Furthermore, the emulsions are dispersed into smaller droplets by the action of emulsifiers, which is consistent with the pattern in the microscope images(Fig. 1 ). The electrical effect is one of the factors affecting the stability of the emulsion. The stability of the emulsions is determined by the repulsive force that exists between the particles. The intermolecular electrostatic repulsion force increases as the absolute value of zeta potential increases, resulting in reduced flocculation between droplets and increased emulsion stability (Qi et al., 2021 ). Table 2 shows how the absolute value of zeta potential increased with increasing proportion of pomelo fiber, from 27.68 mV to 45.33 mV. This suggests that the stability of the emulsion system increased along with the electrostatic repulsion between the emulsions. When the proportion of pomelo fiber exceeds 0.3% by weight, the emulsion system becomes more stable. Table 2 Average particle size and zeta potential of an emulsion prepared with different amounts of pomelo fiber. Simple Pomelo fiber D (4,3) (µm) Zeta potential (mV) 0 0 wt% 162.17 ± 3.86 a -27.68 ± 1.28 a 1 0.15 wt% 80.08 ± 4.36 b -29.38 ± 3.50 a 2 0.3 wt% 62.69 ± 4.52 c -36.28 ± 1.50 b 3 0.6 wt% 36.88 ± 0.97 d -45.33 ± 2.38 c 3.2 Rheological characteristics in emulsion systems From Fig. 2 A, all emulsions exhibited shear thinning at shear rates between 0.1 and 100 s − 1 , suggested that they were pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluids. The viscosity of each emulsion decreased with increasing shear rate. At the same shear rate, the more pomelo fibers were added to the emulsion, the more viscous the emulsion became. This is probably because the hemicellulose in pomelo fiber has a flexible structure and is rich in hydrophilic groups, which has a thickening and water-absorbing effect (He et al., 2023). G'' denotes the amount of viscous energy lost as a result of irreversible emulsion deformation, while G' represents the amount of recoverable elastic energy stored as a result of reversible emulsion deformation (Ren et al., 2023 ). The G' value of each emulsion is larger than the G'' value, indicating that the prepared emulsion exhibits clear elastic fluid properties (Fig. 2 B). This may be attributed to the expansion of the pomelo fibers caused by water absorption, leading the emulsions to exhibit a gel-like state. Furthermore, G′ and G″ showed a slight upward trend in parallel with the increase in angular frequency, suggesting a gradual increase in the viscosity and elastic properties of the emulsion. The emulsion with added pomelo fiber exhibited higher G' and G'' values compared to the emulsion without added pomelo fiber at the same angular frequency. The larger the amount added, the higher the values of G' and G''. This is probably because the pomelo fiber combined with the soy isolate protein adsorbed at the oil droplet interface increased the viscosity of the emulsion, which in turn increased the emulsion's storage modulus and loss modulus (Liu et al., 2018 ). This is consistent with the discovery of Shi et al. that soybean isolate and fiber significantly increased the strength of pork myofibrillar protein gels (Shi et al., 2022 ). 3.3 Environmental influences on the stability of the emulsion Time, temperature and ionic strength influence the stability of pomelo fiber emulsions. By studying how these factors affect the morphological and structural changes of the emulsions, it is possible to determine the physical stability properties of the emulsions in different environments as well as their emulsification stability (Song et al., 2021 ). No emulsion precipitation occurred when the emulsions were stored at 4°C, 25°C, 50°C, or 80°C for 1 hour, as shown in Fig. 3 . No significant delamination was observed. Citrus fibers have proven to be highly heat-resistant in the past (Harini et al., 2018 ). In this system, pomelo fibers require a certain amount of energy to desorb from the oil-water interface, and the energy provided at 80°C is not enough to desorb them, allowing the emulsion to maintain its stable structure. Additionally, this corresponds to the sterilization temperature required to produce ice cream in an industrial setting (Hu et al., 2016 ). The emulsions were steady and uniform on the first day of storage and no emulsion breakage occurred in Fig. 3 . The emulsion without pomelo fiber showed some emulsion breakage on the 15th day of storage, while the other samples remained more stable. The emulsion without pomelo fiber began to break down on the 30th day of storage; The sample group containing 0.15 wt% added pomelo fiber also showed slight breaking of the emulsion; and the emulsions containing 0.30 wt% and 0.60 wt% added pomelo fiber showed no emulsion precipitation. It is obvious that as the proportion of pomelo fiber increased, the emulsion system became more stable and improved storage performance. The film at the interface becomes brittle and cannot stabilize the entire emulsion system if there are not enough emulsifier particles to cover the entire oil droplet. The more stable the emulsion, the better the storage performance, as soon as the proportion of pomelo fiber reached to a certain point, the water molecules were bound to the dense network structure and emulsion precipitation could hardly occur. This is consistent with the results of previous studies on stabilized emulsions of insoluble fiber (He et al., 2020 ; Winuprasith & Suphantharika, 2015 ). The pomelo fiber can effectively improve the centrifugal stability and freeze-thaw stability of the emulsion, as shown by the gradual improvement in demulsification of the emulsion observed (Fig. 3 ), when the emulsion was emulsified with pomelo fiber. However, soybean isolate protein alone showed obvious delamination. This may be due to the hydrophobic interaction of soy protein isolates leading to droplet flocculation. This trend of freeze-thaw stability is similar to that of the emulsion composed of citrus fibers and corn peptides (Ruan et al., 2019 ). 3.4 TSI stability of ice cream slurry The TSI is used to measure how stable the entire dispersion system is. The higher the TSI value, the greater the system changes and lesser the stability. Conversely, the lower the TSI value, the more stable the system is (Liang et al., 2017 ). The TSI value of the ice cream slurry increased steadily over time and eventually tended to a stable state, as shown in Fig. 4 . At the same time, as the amount of pomelo fiber added to the emulsion increased, the TSI value of the ice cream slurry conditions decreased, indicating that the stability of the ice cream slurry increased with increasing pomelo fiber content. This is due to the formation of a robust three-dimensional network structure of the pomelo fiber within the ice cream, as well as its ability to hold water and oil, resist the migration of dissolved molecules through spatial resistance, and increases the stability of the slurry through electrostatic interaction (Hua et al., 1997 ). 3.5 Overrun and melting rate of ice cream When assessing the quality of ice cream, the overrun and melting rates should be taken into account. Ice cream expands due to the freezing and churning of the slurry in the machine, as well as the mixing of air into the system, creating numerous small, uniformly sized bubbles and increasing the volume of the ice cream. Ice cream with too high overrun rate tends to puff up excessively inside the product, resulting in tissue collapse, a mushy texture and poor melt resistance. Conversely, ice cream with too low overrun rate can be challenging to chew. In Fig. 5 , the overrun of ice cream showed a trend that increased and then decreased with increasing pomelo fiber content in the emulsion, and the ice cream sample with 0.30 wt% pomelo fiber had the highest overrun of 27.43%. Increasing the viscosity of the ice cream slurry within a certain range helps the ice cream system retain gas and accelerate the overrun rate, this result is consistent with previous studies (David et al., 2022; Tsevdou et al., 2019 ). However, further increase in viscosity makes it more challenging for air to enter the ice cream system during the churning and freezing processes, slowing down the overrun rate (Liu et al., 2018 ). The melting rate of ice cream showed a decreasing trend with increasing pomelo fiber content in the emulsion, from 55.23–42.30%, indicating that the anti-melting property of ice cream was enhanced with increasing pomelo fiber content and pomelo fiber as a stabilizer added to the ice cream, absorbed water and thickened, causing the viscosity of the ice cream aging slurry to continue to increase and the internal structure to become more and more compact and stable, which was not conducive to the heat exchange between the ice cream system and ambient air, and the melting resistance was further increased and the melting rate was reduced. Elham et al. reported that incorporation of beet fiber into the ice cream, resulting in enhanced melting resistance (Elham et al., 2014 ). 3.6 Textural characteristics of ice cream The three main textural characteristics of ice cream are hardness, stickiness, and chewiness (Abdel-Haleem & Awad, 2015 ). As the amount of pomelo fibers in the emulsion increases, the hardness of the ice cream decreases (Fig. 6 ). This may be attributed to the fact that pomelo fiber increases the viscosity of the emulsion and therefore of the slurry, which increases the aeration of the ice cream during the freezing process. Furthermore, the increased viscosity of the slurry caused the rate of migration within the solute molecules to decrease, which in turn affected the final rate of ice crystal formation and the size of the ice crystals, ultimately leading to a reduction in the ice cream hardness of the final product (Balthazar et al., 2017 ). The results of the current study are consistent with those of previous studies. When papaya seed powder was added to ice cream, Kurt et al. (2018) discovered that the strength of the ice cream was decreased. The stickiness and chewing properties of the emulsions increased as the amount of pomelo fiber increased. This could be due to the improved gel properties of the emulsions caused by the mixing effect of pomelo fiber and soybean isolate protein. Guo et al. ( 2018 ) combined soy isolate proteins with bacterial cellulose/lignocellulose. As the proportion of bacterial cellulose in the mixture increased, the proteins and fibers interacted and formed a homogeneous network structure, which increased the hardness, chewability, and stickiness indices of the blended gels, consistent with the results of the current study. 3.7 Sensory evaluation The Fig. 7 illustrates a heat map delineating the sensory assessment of ice cream with varying concentrations of pomelo fiber. The innovative incorporation of pomelo fiber into the ice cream formulation has significantly enhanced its sensory attributes, surpassing those of its counterpart- an ice cream solely stabilized with an emulsion of soy isolate protein. This enhancement is particularly evident in facets such as texture, ice crystal, refreshing, aftertaste and sweetness, where the pomelo fiber-infused ice cream exhibits markedly superior sensory characteristics. This may be due to the emulsifying and stabilizing effect of pomelo fiber, which resulted in a fuller texture of the ice cream and increased melt resistance. The results of the above studies showed that the emulsion was most stable with 0.60% pomelo fiber formulation and the properties of the ice cream slurry tended to be stable. However, in the overall sensory evaluation of the ice cream, the ice sample had the highest sensory evaluation at 0.30%. This suggests that the quality of the final product does not always improve with increasing pomelo fiber content, as excessive pomelo fiber affects the ice crystals and the refreshing feel of the ice cream, as seen in the heatmap. To obtain a high quality, nutritious and organoleptically suitable product, many factors must be taken into account. To replace the fat in the plant-based ice cream, we added 0.3% pomelo fiber and soybean isolate protein to form an oil-in-water emulsion gel system, so as to obtain plant-based ice cream product (Fig. 8 ). This comprehensive evaluation approach was also used to evaluate inulin as a fat substitute in the production of low-fat ice cream (Abd et al., 2020 ). Conclusion In this investigation, we developed an innovative oil-in-water emulsion gel using corn oil, soy isolate protein, and pomelo fiber as an emulsifying stabilizer, aimed at replacing traditional animal fats in plant-based ice cream. The study's results demonstrated that increasing the concentration of pomelo fiber in the emulsion led to a corresponding increase in viscosity, energy storage modulus, and loss modulus. This finding indicates the formation of an elastic liquid and a robust internal network within the emulsion. Notably, the emulsion exhibited considerable stability, particularly when pomelo fiber content exceeded 0.3 wt%, as indicated by a potential value above 30 mV. Furthermore, our analyses showed that augmenting the amount of pomelo fiber in the emulsion resulted in a decrease in the Total Separation Index (TSI) of the ice cream slurry, signifying enhanced stability. The greater percentage pomelo fibers also had a positive effect on the melt resistance, texture quality and volume expansion of the ice cream. Sensory evaluation further confirmed that the pomelo fiber and soy isolate protein-based emulsion gel serves as an effective and viable fat mimetic in the formulation of plant-based ice creams. These findings offer substantial contributions to the development of healthier and more sustainable plant-based ice cream alternatives with improved textural properties. Declarations Funding This study was financially supported by Yichang Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategic Team Construction Project (Tu Lao Han) C06. Data availability Data will be made available on request. Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Authorship contribution statement Xuerui Li and Shengquan Zhou are responsible for analyzing the methodology, validation, and writing the original draft. They also contributed to the methodology, validation, and the review & editing of the writing. Haohan Chen and Ruojie Zhang are involved in data curation, formal analysis, and the review & editing of the writing. 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Impact of silkworm pupae (Bombyx mori) powder on cream foaming, ice cream properties and palatability. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 75 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2021.102874 Deng, C. N., Liu, Y., Li, J. L., Yadav, M. P., & Yin, L. (2018). Diverse rheological properties, mechanical characteristics and microstructures of corn fiber gum/soy protein isolate hydrogels prepared by laccase and heat treatment. Food Hydrocolloids, 76, 113-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FOODHYD.2017.01.012 Dervisoglu, M., & Yazici, F. (2016). Note. The effect of citrus fibre on the physical, chemical and sensory properties of ice cream. Food Science and Technology International, 12 (2), 159-164. https://doi.org/10.1177/1082013206064 Elham, M., Masoumeh, M. S., Reza, K., & Tahereh, V. (2014). Study the possibility of symbiotic ice cream production using sugar beet fiber and bifidobacterium bifidum BB-12. 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T., & Wu, C. I. (2023). Excellent hydration properties and oil holding capacity of citrus fiber: Effects of component variation and microstructure. Food Hydrocolloids, 144 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2023.108988 He, K., Li, Q., Li, Y., Li, B., & Liu, S. (2020). Water-insoluble dietary fibers from bamboo shoot used as plant food particles for the stabilization of O/W Pickering emulsion. Food Chemistry, 310 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.125925 Hu, Y. Q., Yin, S. W., Zhu, J. H., Qi, J. R., Guo, J., Wu, L. Y., Tang, C. H., & Yang, X. q. (2016). Fabrication and characterization of novel Pickering emulsions and Pickering high internal emulsions stabilized by gliadin colloidal particles. Food Hydrocolloids, 61 , 300-310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2016.05.028 Hua, D. S., Sheng, J. R., Chu, C. J., & Ping, S. (1997). Study on the application of citrus powder in ice cream. Food Science, 18 (8), 28-32. Ismail, H. A., Hameed, A. M., Refaey, M. M., Sayqal, A., & Aly, A. A. (2020). Rheological, physio-chemical and organoleptic characteristics of ice cream enriched with Doum syrup and pomegranate peel. Arabian Journal of Chemistry , 13(10), 7346-7356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2020.08.012 Khairullah, M. N., Muhialdin, B. J., & Hussin, A. S. M. (2020). Characterization of nanoemulsion of Nigella sativa oil and its application in ice cream. Food Science & Nutrition , 8(6), 2608-2618. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.1500 Kumar, V., Kaur, R., Aggarwal, P., & Singh, G. (2022). Underutilized citrus species: An insight of their nutraceutical potential and importance for the development of functional food. Scientia Horticulturae, 296 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2022.110909 Kurt, A., & Atalar, I. (2018). Effects of quince seed on the rheological, structural and sensory characteristics of ice cream. Food Hydrocolloids, 82 (SEP.), 186-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2018.04.011 Liang, Y. C., Gillies, G., Matia-Merino, L., Aigian, Y., Hasmukh, P., & Matt, G. (2017). Structure and stability of sodium-caseinate-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions as influenced by heat treatment. Food Hydrocolloids, 66 , 307-317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2016.11.041 Liu, G. N., Hu, M., Du, X. Q., Qi, B. K., Lu, K. Y., Zhou, S. J., Xie, F. Y., & Li, Y. (2022). Study on the interaction between succinylated soy protein isolate and chitosan and its utilization in the development of oil-in-water bilayer emulsions. Food Hydrocolloids, 124(Part B). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2021.107309 Liu, R., Wang, L. G., Liu, Y., Wu, T., & Zhang, M. (2018). Fabricating soy protein hydrolysate/xanthan gum as fat replacer in ice cream by combined enzymatic and heat-shearing treatment. Food Hydrocolloids, 81 , 39-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2018.01.031 Liu, X. Y., Sala, G. D., & Scholten, E. (2024). Impact of soy protein dispersibility on the structural and sensory properties of fat-free ice cream. Food Hydrocolloids, 147 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2023.109340 Mcclements, D. D. (2010). Sensory Evaluation Techniques. International Journal of Dairy Technology, 60 (4), 305-305. https://doi.org/10.1201/b19493 Mehdi, A., Hadi, E. M., & Zahra, D. (2019). Application and functions of fat replacers in low-fat ice cream: A review. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 86 , 34-40. Ningtyas, D. W., Bhandari, B., & Prakash, S. (2021). Modulation fat globules of plant-based cream emulsion: Influence of the source of plant proteins. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 74 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2021.102852 O'Shea, N., Arendt, E. K., & Gallagher, E. (2012). Dietary fibre and phytochemical characteristics of fruit and vegetable by-products and their recent applications as novel ingredients in food products. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 16 , 1-10. Qi, J. R., Song, L. W., Zeng, W. Q., & Liao, J. S. (2021). Citrus fiber for the stabilization of O/W emulsion through combination of Pickering effect and fiber-based network. Food Chemistry, 343 . Ren, Y., Wei, L., Hao, Y. J., Miao, Z., Li, H., Cao, J., & Liu, X. (2023). Effect of variation in basic emulsion structure and polysaccharide content on the physicochemical properties and structure of composite-based emulsion gels as cube fat mimetics. Food Chemistry, 434 , 137450-137450. Ruan, Q. J., Yang, X. Q., Zeng, L. H., & Qi, J. R. (2019). Physical and tribological properties of high internal phase emulsions based on citrus fibers and corn peptides. Food Hydrocolloids, 95 , 53-61. Shi, Y., Zang, M., Wang, S., Zhao, B., Xu, C. C., Bai, J., Zhao, Y., Qiao, X. L., & Wu, J. J. (2022). Effects of citrus fibre and soybean protein isolate on heat‐induced pork myofibrillar protein gel properties under low‐sodium salt conditions. International Journal of Food Science And Technology, 57 (12), 7701-7711. Song, T., Xiong, Z., Shi, T., Li, Y., & Gao, R. (2021). Effect of glutamic acid on the preparation and characterization of Pickering emulsions stabilized by zein. Food Chemistry, 366 (1-2), 130598. Sung, K. K., & Goff, H. D. (2010). Effect of solid fat content on structure in ice creams containing palm kernel oil and high-oleic sunflower oil. Journal of Food Science, 75 (3), C274-C279. Tsevdou, M., Aprea, E., Betta, E., Khomenko, I., Molitor, D., Biasioli, F., Gaiani, C., Gasperi, F., Taoukis, P., & Soukoulis, C. (2019). Rheological, Textural, Physicochemical and Sensory Profiling of a Novel Functional Ice Cream Enriched with Muscat de Hamburg (Vitis vinifera L.) Grape Pulp and Skins. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 12 (4), 665-680. Winuprasith, T., & Suphantharika, M. (2015). Properties and stability of oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by microfibrillated cellulose from mangosteen rind. Food Hydrocolloids, 43 , 690-699. Xiao, L., Ye, F., Zhou, Y., & Zhao, G. (2021). Utilization of pomelo peels to manufacture value-added products: A review. Food Chem, 351 , 129247. Xu, D. X., Zhang, J. J., Cao, Y. P., Wang, J., & Xiao, J. S. (2016). Influence of microcrystalline cellulose on the microrheological property and freeze-thaw stability of soybean protein hydrolysate stabilized curcumin emulsion. LWT - Food Science and Technology, 66 , 590-597. Yu, B., Tang, Q., Fu, C., Regenstein, J., Huang, J., & Wang, L. (2023). Effects of different particle-sized insoluble dietary fibre from citrus peel on adsorption and activity inhibition of pancreatic lipase. Food Chemistry, 398 , 133834. Yu, B., Zeng, X., Wang, L. F., & Regenstein, J. M. (2021). Preparation of nanofibrillated cellulose from grapefruit peel and its application as fat substitute in ice cream. Carbohydrate Polymers, 254 . Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Jun, 2024 Read the published version in Food and Bioprocess Technology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 11 Apr, 2024 Reviews received at journal 23 Mar, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Mar, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 23 Mar, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 18 Mar, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Mar, 2024 First submitted to journal 18 Mar, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4122056","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":281156667,"identity":"7e2333b0-fb06-41cf-bc4f-0f5b475da406","order_by":0,"name":"Xuerui Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huazhong Agricultural University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xuerui","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":281156668,"identity":"f70d16ec-efc5-48c8-ba5e-abeedec03e1b","order_by":1,"name":"Shengquan Zhou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huazhong Agricultural 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10:00:27","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4122056/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4122056/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03446-5","type":"published","date":"2024-06-14T15:29:59+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":53092714,"identity":"53a6d50a-9208-479e-a1a9-0d7a8db41492","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:12:37","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":464293,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMicrostructural variations in emulsions with different pomelo fiber concentrations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/329f5356925026791a28766f.png"},{"id":53092715,"identity":"417c43d3-b076-473c-8c35-95a8c311f499","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:12:37","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":455383,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRheological curves of emulsions with variable pomelo fiber concentrations: (A) viscosity-shear rate correlations and (B) modulus-angular frequency relationships\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/a8e1c4d424c5b33362d89940.png"},{"id":53092164,"identity":"cf9bc70a-c6bd-4129-9698-1a55ece4ad62","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:04:37","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":2144079,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSee image above for figure legend\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/f7fa5cca5504953dbf7318ad.png"},{"id":53092165,"identity":"7b4d77ad-658e-42ed-b055-68ab211c1572","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:04:37","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":39626,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTSI of ice cream slurry with different pomelo fiber concentrations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/5fbe8b9f258e5d0c4d5b730f.png"},{"id":53092168,"identity":"7db21fcd-9f2e-4eb0-b801-978bf5d93035","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:04:37","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":35902,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOverrun and melting rate of ice cream with different pomelo fiber concentrations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/07e40752a90c2c650021afad.png"},{"id":53092170,"identity":"6b711814-b867-4cc8-838a-86767a6f54f2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:04:38","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":50025,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTextural properties of ice cream with different pomelo fiber concentrations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/56c9b2c022a083ce04afaa93.png"},{"id":53092169,"identity":"94da71ab-3d5e-4c2f-acab-6dbaa8306716","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:04:38","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"Figure 7","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":85522,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSee image above for figure legend\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/3ce43c4d83aa190d5f12466f.png"},{"id":53092171,"identity":"fbf0e54d-42b4-4e95-9275-1edf52387dfa","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-20 13:04:38","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"Figure 8","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":259346,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRepresentative visual depiction of plant-based ice cream prototype\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/dd0f65240652334d81677818.png"},{"id":58823221,"identity":"63ed5747-22b7-4c3e-b196-78a742519590","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-06-21 16:55:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5877084,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4122056/v1/32a68953-4f4f-4bc8-a4da-7301a208ae75.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Pomelo Fiber-Stabilized Oil-in-Water Emulsion Gels: Fat Mimetic in Plant-Based Ice Cream","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eIce cream is a frozen treat that people love for its rich flavor and creamy, cool texture. The fat content of ice cream, which ranges from 10\u0026ndash;30%, has a significant impact on the smoothness, melt resistance and other properties of the product (Mehdi, Hadi, \u0026amp; Zahra, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). The majority of ice cream available currently tends to be high in fat and calories, no longer aligning with the evolving preferences and needs of consumers. However, interest in plant-based foods has increased significantly in recent years due to factors such as allergic reactions, lactose intolerance, adherence to vegan diets and ethical concerns. Foods that are made from plant-based materials or their derivatives \u0026ndash; whether with or without additional ingredients - and resembling certain animal foods in terms of texture, taste, shape and other quality characteristics are called plant foods (Grossmann \u0026amp; Mcclements, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Vegetable cream, made by hydrogenating vegetable oils, have gained attraction as a way to reduce costs while maintaining a high-quality ice cream texture. However, trans fatty acids in hydrogenated vegetable oils are known for their higher risk to human health and difficulty in metabolic processing by the body (Bajpai et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTherefore, it is particularly important to study materials that can effectively replace vegetable cream and maintain the stable structure and good sensory evaluation of ice cream. Boff et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013a\u003c/span\u003e) reported that when animal fat was replaced with vegetable oil gel, rice bran wax was used as a gelling agent and mixed with sunflower oil, resulting in a significant increase in the overrun rate of plant-based ice cream. Khairullah et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) created a nano emulsion by mixing black seed oil with gum Arabic, sodium caseinate and Tween-20 and used it in ice cream. They discovered that the best acceptance and the highest sensory score were attained at 5% Nigella sativa oil nano emulsion. Sung et al. (2010) used sugar, skimmed milk powder, solid fat (palm oil), and liquid fat (sunflower oil) to make ice cream. Blends containing 60\u0026ndash;80% solid fat were verified to yield the lowest rates of meltdown, the smallest air bubble sizes, and the highest rates of fat destabilization. It offers recommendations for choosing vegetable fats for ice cream. In recent years, fiber-based fat substitutes have attracted the attention of researchers (Yu et L., 2023). This is mainly because the interaction between cellulose and hemicellulose in fibers allows water to be adsorbed on the surface of the fibers and trapped inside the network structure. The fiber's increased contact area with water or oil is attributed to its rough surface texture, high specific surface area, and loose interstitial microstructure (Chen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; He et al., 2023). Since fiber can be used instead of fat in foods, successfully lowering fat content, reducing calories but preserving taste (Crizel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Kumar et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; O'Shea et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). When fiber is added to ice cream, it not only replaces 70% of the fat, but also adds texture and flavor to the ice cream (Boff et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013a\u003c/span\u003e; Boff et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013b\u003c/span\u003e; Crizel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Crizel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Yu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). In recent years, pomelo peel fiber has been used as a raw material for high value-added products due to its high shear strength and strong water and oil holding capacity (Ye et al., 2021). Nonetheless, research into the application of pomelo peel fiber as a substitute for fat in the formulation of plant-based ice cream remains unexplored.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research endeavors to develop an oil-in-water emulsion gel system utilizing soy protein isolate and pomelo fiber for emulsion stabilization. Subsequent exploration revealed the gel's efficacy in substituting cream in ice cream formulations, leading to the innovation of plant-based ice cream. This investigation introduces a novel thinking in the research and development of plant-based ice cream products.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Materials and methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.1 Materials and regents\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe Majia pomelo was collected in Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province. Pectinase was purchased from Shanghai Yuanye Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). The soy isolate protein SD-300 was purchased from Mountain Pine Biological Products Co., Ltd (Shandong, China). Corn oil was purchased from Yihai KerryArawana Holdings Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.2 Pomelo fiber preparation\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe Majia pomelo peel was processed as follows: After drying at 50\u0026deg;C for 48 hours, 10 g of the powdered peel was mixed with 200 mL of water and the pH was adjusted to 3\u0026ndash;3.5. Enzymatic treatment with 0.2% pectinase was performed at 45\u0026ndash;50\u0026deg;C for 1.5 h and then at 90\u0026deg;C for 15 min. After centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 5 min, the supernatant was removed and the filter residue was dissolved to extract pectin. The remaining residue was mixed with water (ratio 1:20), the pH was adjusted to 8\u0026ndash;11 and treated with hydrogen peroxide with stirring at 300 rpm at 75\u0026ndash;85\u0026deg;C. The mixture was centrifuged (model 5804R, Eppendorf Ltd.), the filtrate was mixed with hot water (ratio 1:20), the pH was adjusted to 6\u0026ndash;8 and stored at 10\u0026ndash;60\u0026deg;C and homogenized at 10\u0026ndash;30 MPa (UH- 24, Yonglian Bio-technology Co., Ltd.). The final pomelo fiber product was vacuum freeze-dried and ground into powder.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.3 Emulsion preparation\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eA 1% soy isolate protein solution was first prepared and hydrated overnight. Then, pemolo fibers and corn oil were mixed in different ratios and emulsified using a high-speed shearing machine (XHF-D, Xinzhi Bio-technology Co., Ltd., Ningbo, China) for 4 minutes at 16000 rpm, resulting in a gel-like Emulsions (Liu et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). The exact formulations are listed in Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003ctable id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\n \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eBasic ingredient proportions in emulsion.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003c/caption\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSample\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eWater\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCorn oil\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSoy isolate protein\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePomelo peel\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e29.7 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e70 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e29.55 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e70 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.15 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e29.4 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e70 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e29.1 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e70 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6 wt%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.4 Preparation of plant-based ice cream\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe following ingredients are added to the ice cream in sequence: 9.5% prepared gelatinous emulsion, 12% skimmed milk powder, 12% sugar, 0.1% monoglycerin, 0.3% SE709, 3.5% maltodextrin, 62.6% water. The exact preparation procedure is as follows: (1) Pretreatment of raw materials: Emulsion, sugar, skimmed milk powder and other raw materials were mixed with water by stirring with a mixer. (2) Pasteurization: The ice slurry was put into the sterilizer and run it at 80\u0026deg;C for 15 to 30 seconds. (3) High pressure homogenization: the ice slurry was put into the high pressure homogenizer (20 MPa). (4) Aging: after the ice liquid is homogenized, it is quickly cooled to room temperature and then placed in the fridge (at 4\u0026deg;C) for 4 h. (5) The aging slurry was put into the ice cream freezing machine (MC50+, Meiheng Food Machinery Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China). (6) Hardening: the frozen ice cream was cooled (between \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;25 and \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;30\u0026deg;C) to facilitate the hardening of the frozen ice cream. (7) Storage and packaging.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.5 Rheological characteristics analysis of emulsion systems\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eA rotational rheometer (DHR2, TA Instruments, Inc. USA) was used to measure the viscosity and modulus of the emulsions (Ningtyas et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Viscosity: a 60 mm flat plate was used as the device, the measuring gap was set at 500 \u0026micro;m, the temperature was 25\u0026deg;C, the shear rate range was 0.1\u0026ndash;100 s\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, the equilibrium time was 60 seconds, the duration was 120 seconds and the data was collected in logarithmic mode. The flow ramp test mode was selected. Linear viscoelastic zone: Select the Oscillation Amplitude test mode, the angular frequency was 10.0 rad/s, the test temperature was 25\u0026deg;C, and one point was taken per ten units of strain change. The elongation change range is 0.001\u0026ndash;100%. Select the oscillation frequency sweep test mode, test temperature was 25\u0026deg;C, set the frequency range to 1.0-100 rad/s, use logarithmic (log) mode for data collection, and plot 10 points for every size.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.6 Analysis of the microstructure, particle size distribution and zeta potential in emulsion systems\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eA drop of an appropriately concentrated emulsion was applied to a stain-free, smooth slide using a 100 \u0026micro;L pipette gun. The slide was then gradually covered with a clear, clean coverslip. The microstructures of the emulsion samples were examined under normal lighting conditions with an optical microscope equipped with a 10x eyepiece and a 40x objective lens and captured on camera with a micro camera system (Ningtyas et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe average droplet diameter of the emulsions was determined by using a laser particle size analyzer (Mastersizer 2000, Malvern Instruments Inc. USA). The stirring speed was set to 2000 rpm. The volume-weighted average D (4,3) was used to represent the distribution of droplet diameters and to express the mean droplet diameter of the emulsion droplets over the course of three parallel runs (Qi et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eEquation (1) calculates the volume average diameter, which was represented by the particle size D (4,3) (Dervisoglu \u0026amp; Yazici, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://myfiles.space/user_files/122228_c8a1650c59388082/122228_custom_files/img1710939274.png\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eWhere 𝑑\u003csub\u003e𝑖\u003c/sub\u003e is the size of the particle and 𝑛\u003csub\u003e𝑖\u003c/sub\u003e is the number of particles with the same diameter.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe zeta potential (\u0026zeta; potential) of the emulsion samples were determined by using a nanoparticle size potential analyzer (Nano ZS, Malvern Instruments Inc., USA). Before measurement, the samples were diluted to approximately 0.05% with deionized water. Then 1 ml of the solution was pipetted into the cuvette using a pipette gun, which was then placed in the potentiometric bath (Liu et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.7 Evaluation of emulsion stability metrics\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThermal stability: A centrifuge tube containing 10 ml of freshly prepared emulsion was left at 4\u0026deg;C, 25\u0026deg;C, 50\u0026deg;C and 80\u0026deg;C for one hour each. Storage stability: On the 1st, 15th and 30th day, 15 mL of the emulsion were placed in glass tubes and stored at 4\u0026deg;C. Centrifuge stability: A centrifuge tube containing 10 ml of emulsion was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 5 minutes. Freezing-thawing stability: Ten milliliters of the emulsion was placed in a centrifuge tube, frozen at -20\u0026deg;C for twenty-four hours, and then thawed at 25\u0026deg;C in the refrigerator for four hours. Each sample was captured with the camera and the condition of the emulsion was noted.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.8 Assessment of stability parameters in ice cream slurry\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTo check the stability of the ice cream slurry, it was put in a test tube and run in scan mode at a test temperature of 25\u0026deg;C. For the six-hour test, data on transmitted and backscattered light were gathered at 40 \u0026micro;m intervals using a multi-light scatterer (Turbiscan Tower, Formulation, French). Every half an hour, scans are conducted. The stability of the slurry was assessed using the total separation index (TSI) (Xu et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.9 Analysis of overrun and melting rates in ice cream\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMeasure the volume of the aged slurry and weigh it (W\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e) before pouring it into the ice cream freezer for freeze preparation and shaping. Then measure and weigh the same volume of ice cream (W\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e), and finally use formula (2) to determine the overrun rate of the ice cream (Ismail et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://myfiles.space/user_files/122228_c8a1650c59388082/122228_custom_files/img1710939290.png\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIce cream samples of similar size and shape were removed from the fridge at \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;18\u0026deg;C, placed on a 2 mm mesh sieve, and then an appropriately sized petri dish was placed under the sieve. The mass of the melted samples in the petri dish was counted after freezing the sample dish at 25\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1\u0026deg;C for 75 min. The original and melted state of the ice cream were noted and the melting rate was calculated using formula (3) (Liu et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://myfiles.space/user_files/122228_c8a1650c59388082/122228_custom_files/img1710939302.png\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.10 Assessment of textural parameters in ice cream\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe stickiness, chewability and hardness of the ice creams were evaluated using a texture analyzer (TA. XT plus, SMS, UK). Test conditions included a 5 mm diameter P/0.5 probe, a start and retrace rate of 5 mm, a test rate of 3 mm, a penetration depth of 15 mm, and a trigger force of 10 g. Before the tests, the ice creams were taken out of the refrigerator and brought to room temperature, more precisely 0\u0026deg;C (Ningtyas et al., \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.11 Sensory evaluation of ice cream\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe ice-cream samples were subjected to sensory analysis following the method described by \u0026Ccedil;am et al. and Muir et al. (2010), with some modifications. An ordinary sensory laboratory with natural light and a temperature of 25\u0026deg;C was used to evaluate the ice cream\u0026apos;s sensory qualities. The ice cream\u0026apos;s texture, ice crystal feel, refreshing, chewiness, bean flavor, aftertaste, acceptability, and sweetness were assessed by eighteen untrained prospective customers. A 100-point scale was used to calculate the overall score, with 10\u0026ndash;13 denoting good quality, 4\u0026ndash;9 moderate quality, 1\u0026ndash;3 poor quality, 5\u0026ndash;9 moderate sweetness, and 1\u0026ndash;4 excessively sweet or too light. Every ice cream sample (about 30 g) was put in a colorless and odorless disposable container. Before tasting, samples were thawed to a temperature of roughly \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;10\u0026deg;C. Before evaluating each sample without interruption, sensory evaluators had to wash their mouth thoroughly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.12 Statistical analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eAll samples were tested three times in parallel and data were presented as means and standard deviations (M\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;SD). Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the SPSS 20.0 software package (Chicago, USA). Significant differences were determined using Duncan\u0026apos;s multiple range tests. The p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05 was considered statistically significant. The graphical representation including heatmap was created using the Origin 2021 software (Northampton, USA).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Results and Discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.1 Microstructure, particle size and zeta potential of emulsions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eParticle size is one of the factors in assessing the stability of an emulsion, the smaller the particle size of the emulsions, the more stable they become. According to Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e, the average particle size of the emulsions without added pomelo fiber is 162 µm. With increasing content of pomelo fibers, the average particle size of the emulsions gradually decreases to 36.88 µm. This is primarily due to the emulsifying properties of the pomelo fiber, which also increases the spatial resistance of the emulsions. Furthermore, the emulsions are dispersed into smaller droplets by the action of emulsifiers, which is consistent with the pattern in the microscope images(Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe electrical effect is one of the factors affecting the stability of the emulsion. The stability of the emulsions is determined by the repulsive force that exists between the particles. The intermolecular electrostatic repulsion force increases as the absolute value of zeta potential increases, resulting in reduced flocculation between droplets and increased emulsion stability (Qi et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e shows how the absolute value of zeta potential increased with increasing proportion of pomelo fiber, from 27.68 mV to 45.33 mV. This suggests that the stability of the emulsion system increased along with the electrostatic repulsion between the emulsions. When the proportion of pomelo fiber exceeds 0.3% by weight, the emulsion system becomes more stable.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAverage particle size and zeta potential of an emulsion prepared with different amounts of pomelo fiber.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSimple\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePomelo fiber\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD (4,3) (µm)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZeta potential (mV)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0 wt%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e162.17 ± 3.86\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-27.68 ± 1.28\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.15 wt%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e80.08 ± 4.36\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-29.38 ± 3.50\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.3 wt%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e62.69 ± 4.52\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-36.28 ± 1.50\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6 wt%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36.88 ± 0.97\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-45.33 ± 2.38\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.2 Rheological characteristics in emulsion systems\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrom Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003eA, all emulsions exhibited shear thinning at shear rates between 0.1 and 100 s\u003csup\u003e− 1\u003c/sup\u003e, suggested that they were pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluids. The viscosity of each emulsion decreased with increasing shear rate. At the same shear rate, the more pomelo fibers were added to the emulsion, the more viscous the emulsion became. This is probably because the hemicellulose in pomelo fiber has a flexible structure and is rich in hydrophilic groups, which has a thickening and water-absorbing effect (He et al., 2023).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eG'' denotes the amount of viscous energy lost as a result of irreversible emulsion deformation, while G' represents the amount of recoverable elastic energy stored as a result of reversible emulsion deformation (Ren et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The G' value of each emulsion is larger than the G'' value, indicating that the prepared emulsion exhibits clear elastic fluid properties (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003eB). This may be attributed to the expansion of the pomelo fibers caused by water absorption, leading the emulsions to exhibit a gel-like state. Furthermore, G′ and G″ showed a slight upward trend in parallel with the increase in angular frequency, suggesting a gradual increase in the viscosity and elastic properties of the emulsion. The emulsion with added pomelo fiber exhibited higher G' and G'' values compared to the emulsion without added pomelo fiber at the same angular frequency. The larger the amount added, the higher the values of G' and G''. This is probably because the pomelo fiber combined with the soy isolate protein adsorbed at the oil droplet interface increased the viscosity of the emulsion, which in turn increased the emulsion's storage modulus and loss modulus (Liu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). This is consistent with the discovery of Shi et al. that soybean isolate and fiber significantly increased the strength of pork myofibrillar protein gels (Shi et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.3 Environmental influences on the stability of the emulsion\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eTime, temperature and ionic strength influence the stability of pomelo fiber emulsions. By studying how these factors affect the morphological and structural changes of the emulsions, it is possible to determine the physical stability properties of the emulsions in different environments as well as their emulsification stability (Song et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). No emulsion precipitation occurred when the emulsions were stored at 4°C, 25°C, 50°C, or 80°C for 1 hour, as shown in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. No significant delamination was observed. Citrus fibers have proven to be highly heat-resistant in the past (Harini et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In this system, pomelo fibers require a certain amount of energy to desorb from the oil-water interface, and the energy provided at 80°C is not enough to desorb them, allowing the emulsion to maintain its stable structure. Additionally, this corresponds to the sterilization temperature required to produce ice cream in an industrial setting (Hu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe emulsions were steady and uniform on the first day of storage and no emulsion breakage occurred in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. The emulsion without pomelo fiber showed some emulsion breakage on the 15th day of storage, while the other samples remained more stable. The emulsion without pomelo fiber began to break down on the 30th day of storage; The sample group containing 0.15 wt% added pomelo fiber also showed slight breaking of the emulsion; and the emulsions containing 0.30 wt% and 0.60 wt% added pomelo fiber showed no emulsion precipitation. It is obvious that as the proportion of pomelo fiber increased, the emulsion system became more stable and improved storage performance. The film at the interface becomes brittle and cannot stabilize the entire emulsion system if there are not enough emulsifier particles to cover the entire oil droplet. The more stable the emulsion, the better the storage performance, as soon as the proportion of pomelo fiber reached to a certain point, the water molecules were bound to the dense network structure and emulsion precipitation could hardly occur. This is consistent with the results of previous studies on stabilized emulsions of insoluble fiber (He et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Winuprasith \u0026amp; Suphantharika, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe pomelo fiber can effectively improve the centrifugal stability and freeze-thaw stability of the emulsion, as shown by the gradual improvement in demulsification of the emulsion observed (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e), when the emulsion was emulsified with pomelo fiber. However, soybean isolate protein alone showed obvious delamination. This may be due to the hydrophobic interaction of soy protein isolates leading to droplet flocculation. This trend of freeze-thaw stability is similar to that of the emulsion composed of citrus fibers and corn peptides (Ruan et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.4 TSI stability of ice cream slurry\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe TSI is used to measure how stable the entire dispersion system is. The higher the TSI value, the greater the system changes and lesser the stability. Conversely, the lower the TSI value, the more stable the system is (Liang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). The TSI value of the ice cream slurry increased steadily over time and eventually tended to a stable state, as shown in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e. At the same time, as the amount of pomelo fiber added to the emulsion increased, the TSI value of the ice cream slurry conditions decreased, indicating that the stability of the ice cream slurry increased with increasing pomelo fiber content. This is due to the formation of a robust three-dimensional network structure of the pomelo fiber within the ice cream, as well as its ability to hold water and oil, resist the migration of dissolved molecules through spatial resistance, and increases the stability of the slurry through electrostatic interaction (Hua et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1997\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec20\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.5 Overrun and melting rate of ice cream\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen assessing the quality of ice cream, the overrun and melting rates should be taken into account. Ice cream expands due to the freezing and churning of the slurry in the machine, as well as the mixing of air into the system, creating numerous small, uniformly sized bubbles and increasing the volume of the ice cream. Ice cream with too high overrun rate tends to puff up excessively inside the product, resulting in tissue collapse, a mushy texture and poor melt resistance. Conversely, ice cream with too low overrun rate can be challenging to chew. In Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e, the overrun of ice cream showed a trend that increased and then decreased with increasing pomelo fiber content in the emulsion, and the ice cream sample with 0.30 wt% pomelo fiber had the highest overrun of 27.43%. Increasing the viscosity of the ice cream slurry within a certain range helps the ice cream system retain gas and accelerate the overrun rate, this result is consistent with previous studies (David et al., 2022; Tsevdou et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). However, further increase in viscosity makes it more challenging for air to enter the ice cream system during the churning and freezing processes, slowing down the overrun rate (Liu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe melting rate of ice cream showed a decreasing trend with increasing pomelo fiber content in the emulsion, from 55.23–42.30%, indicating that the anti-melting property of ice cream was enhanced with increasing pomelo fiber content and pomelo fiber as a stabilizer added to the ice cream, absorbed water and thickened, causing the viscosity of the ice cream aging slurry to continue to increase and the internal structure to become more and more compact and stable, which was not conducive to the heat exchange between the ice cream system and ambient air, and the melting resistance was further increased and the melting rate was reduced. Elham et al. reported that incorporation of beet fiber into the ice cream, resulting in enhanced melting resistance (Elham et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec21\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.6 Textural characteristics of ice cream\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe three main textural characteristics of ice cream are hardness, stickiness, and chewiness (Abdel-Haleem \u0026amp; Awad, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). As the amount of pomelo fibers in the emulsion increases, the hardness of the ice cream decreases (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e). This may be attributed to the fact that pomelo fiber increases the viscosity of the emulsion and therefore of the slurry, which increases the aeration of the ice cream during the freezing process. Furthermore, the increased viscosity of the slurry caused the rate of migration within the solute molecules to decrease, which in turn affected the final rate of ice crystal formation and the size of the ice crystals, ultimately leading to a reduction in the ice cream hardness of the final product (Balthazar et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). The results of the current study are consistent with those of previous studies. When papaya seed powder was added to ice cream, Kurt et al. (2018) discovered that the strength of the ice cream was decreased. The stickiness and chewing properties of the emulsions increased as the amount of pomelo fiber increased. This could be due to the improved gel properties of the emulsions caused by the mixing effect of pomelo fiber and soybean isolate protein. Guo et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) combined soy isolate proteins with bacterial cellulose/lignocellulose. As the proportion of bacterial cellulose in the mixture increased, the proteins and fibers interacted and formed a homogeneous network structure, which increased the hardness, chewability, and stickiness indices of the blended gels, consistent with the results of the current study.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec22\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.7 Sensory evaluation\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e illustrates a heat map delineating the sensory assessment of ice cream with varying concentrations of pomelo fiber. The innovative incorporation of pomelo fiber into the ice cream formulation has significantly enhanced its sensory attributes, surpassing those of its counterpart- an ice cream solely stabilized with an emulsion of soy isolate protein. This enhancement is particularly evident in facets such as texture, ice crystal, refreshing, aftertaste and sweetness, where the pomelo fiber-infused ice cream exhibits markedly superior sensory characteristics. This may be due to the emulsifying and stabilizing effect of pomelo fiber, which resulted in a fuller texture of the ice cream and increased melt resistance. The results of the above studies showed that the emulsion was most stable with 0.60% pomelo fiber formulation and the properties of the ice cream slurry tended to be stable. However, in the overall sensory evaluation of the ice cream, the ice sample had the highest sensory evaluation at 0.30%. This suggests that the quality of the final product does not always improve with increasing pomelo fiber content, as excessive pomelo fiber affects the ice crystals and the refreshing feel of the ice cream, as seen in the heatmap. To obtain a high quality, nutritious and organoleptically suitable product, many factors must be taken into account. To replace the fat in the plant-based ice cream, we added 0.3% pomelo fiber and soybean isolate protein to form an oil-in-water emulsion gel system, so as to obtain plant-based ice cream product (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig8\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e). This comprehensive evaluation approach was also used to evaluate inulin as a fat substitute in the production of low-fat ice cream (Abd et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this investigation, we developed an innovative oil-in-water emulsion gel using corn oil, soy isolate protein, and pomelo fiber as an emulsifying stabilizer, aimed at replacing traditional animal fats in plant-based ice cream. The study's results demonstrated that increasing the concentration of pomelo fiber in the emulsion led to a corresponding increase in viscosity, energy storage modulus, and loss modulus. This finding indicates the formation of an elastic liquid and a robust internal network within the emulsion. Notably, the emulsion exhibited considerable stability, particularly when pomelo fiber content exceeded 0.3 wt%, as indicated by a potential value above 30 mV. Furthermore, our analyses showed that augmenting the amount of pomelo fiber in the emulsion resulted in a decrease in the Total Separation Index (TSI) of the ice cream slurry, signifying enhanced stability. The greater percentage pomelo fibers also had a positive effect on the melt resistance, texture quality and volume expansion of the ice cream. Sensory evaluation further confirmed that the pomelo fiber and soy isolate protein-based emulsion gel serves as an effective and viable fat mimetic in the formulation of plant-based ice creams. These findings offer substantial contributions to the development of healthier and more sustainable plant-based ice cream alternatives with improved textural properties.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003eFunding\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study was financially supported by Yichang Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategic Team Construction Project (Tu Lao Han) C06.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eData availability\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eData will be made available on request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeclaration of Competing Interest\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthorship contribution statement\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXuerui Li and Shengquan Zhou are responsible for analyzing the methodology, validation, and writing the original draft. They also contributed to the methodology, validation, and the review \u0026amp; editing of the writing. Haohan Chen and Ruojie Zhang are involved in data curation, formal analysis, and the review \u0026amp; editing of the writing. Lufeng Wang manages the project and resources, oversees the supervision and participates in the review \u0026amp; editing of the writing. All authors reviewed the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbd, A. A. E.-K., Abd-Alla, A. A., Ateteallah, A. H., \u0026amp; Hassan, N. A. (2020). Physicochemical and sensory properties of low-fat ice cream made with inulin and maltodextrin as fat replacers. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Food \u0026amp; Dairy Sciences, 11\u003c/em\u003e(6), 151-156. https://doi.org/10.21608/jfds.2020.106364\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbdel-Haleem, A. M. H., \u0026amp; Awad, R. A. (2015). 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Preparation of nanofibrillated cellulose from grapefruit peel and its application as fat substitute in ice cream. \u003cem\u003eCarbohydrate Polymers, 254\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"food-and-bioprocess-technology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Food and Bioprocess Technology](https://www.springer.com/journal/11947)","snPcode":"11947","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11947/3","title":"Food and Bioprocess Technology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Pomelo fiber, Plant-based ice cream, Fat mimetic, Oil-in-Water, Emulsion gel","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4122056/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4122056/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePlant-based ice cream has become a popular option among consumers as it represents a healthy lifestyle. A critical challenge in current research is creating a stable, oil-based system as a cream substitute. This study investigates using a pomelo fiber and soy protein isolate-based emulsion as a viable cream substitute in ice cream. Findings demonstrate that pomelo fiber, combined with soy protein isolate, effectively stabilizes corn oil, forming an oil-in-water emulsion gel. Increasing the proportion of pomelo fiber increases the elastic modulus of the emulsion, reduces the average particle size and improves stability. The gel emulsion oil enhances stability, reduces the ice cream slurry's stability index, and improves overrun rate and melt resistance. Sensory evaluation confirmed that the emulsion gel, based on pomelo fiber and soy isolate protein, acts as an effective and novel fat mimetic in plant-based ice creams, offering a groundbreaking method for replacing traditional fats in their formulation.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Pomelo Fiber-Stabilized Oil-in-Water Emulsion Gels: Fat Mimetic in Plant-Based Ice Cream","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-03-20 13:04:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4122056/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-04-12T03:04:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-03-24T01:52:59+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"1fe7abca-068c-4bbb-99da-32e23b7813ac","date":"2024-03-23T22:36:59+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-03-23T22:30:50+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-03-19T03:04:24+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-03-18T10:10:32+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Food and Bioprocess Technology","date":"2024-03-18T09:59:10+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"food-and-bioprocess-technology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Food and Bioprocess Technology](https://www.springer.com/journal/11947)","snPcode":"11947","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11947/3","title":"Food and Bioprocess Technology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"1b98e5d3-b2b3-419d-bc79-817bc7b882ac","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 20th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-06-21T15:29:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4122056","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03446-5","journal":{"identity":"food-and-bioprocess-technology","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Food and Bioprocess Technology"},"publishedOn":"2024-06-14 15:29:59","publishedOnDateReadable":"June 14th, 2024"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-03-20 13:04:32","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s11947-024-03446-5","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03446-5","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4122056","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4122056","identity":"rs-4122056","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}