Fabrication of flavour oil high internal phase emulsions by casein/pectin hybrid particles: 3D printing performance

•The flavour oil HIPEs was developed as novel materials for 3D food printing.•The addition of pectin enhanced the viscosity and stiffness of HIPEs.•The HIPEs exhibited excellent 3D printing property with application of pectin. In this study, three-dimensional (3D) printable oil/water (O/W) high-internal-phase emulsions (HIPEs) (internal phase fraction = 75%) were fabricated using casein (3% w/v)/pectin (1–5% w/v) hybrid particles with flavour oil. The morphologies of the HIPEs, revealed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM), indicated that the casein/pectin hybrid particles were mainly distributed on the interface of oil droplets. Additionally, the results of rheological and gel-strength measurements indicated that the viscosity (ranging from 1316.51–0.21 to 4301.84–0.79 Pa.s) of HIPEs increased with increasing pectin content (from 0% to 4% w/v), and the gel strength of printed HIPEs increased (from 10.37 to 21.19 g) with increasing pectin (from 1% to 5% w/v). The developed HIPEs were applied for 3D printing and the thus-printed objects could adequately maintain the designed shape and structure. The developed 3D printable HIPEs have excellent potential applications in the food, medical, and cosmetic industries.