Emulsification of caraway essential oil in water by lecithin and β-lactoglobulin: emulsion stability and properties of the formed oil–aqueous interface

The stability and droplet size of protein and lipid stabilised emulsions of caraway essential oil as well as the amount of protein on the emulsion droplets have been investigated. The amount of added protein (β-lactoglobulin) and lipid (phosphatidylcholine from soybean (sb-PC)) were varied and the results compared with those obtained with emulsions of a purified olive oil. In general, emulsions with triglyceride oil proved to be more stable compared with those made with caraway essential oil as the dispersed phase. However, the stability of the emulsions can be improved considerably by adding sb-PC. An increase in the protein concentration also promoted emulsion stability. We will also present how ellipsometry can be used to study the adsorption of the lipid from the oil and the protein from the aqueous phase at the oil–water interface. Independently of the used concentration, close to monolayer coverage of sb-PC was observed at the caraway oil–aqueous interface. On the other hand, at the olive oil–aqueous interface, the presence of only a small amount of sb-PC lead to an exponential increase of the layer thickness with time beyond monolayer coverage. The amounts of β-lactoglobulin adsorbed at the caraway oil–aqueous interface and at the olive oil–aqueous interface were similar, corresponding roughly to a protein monolayer coverage.