There is growing interest in enhancing the freeze–thaw stability of a Pickering emulsion to obtain a better taste in the frozen food field. A Pickering emulsion was prepared using a two-step homogenization method with soybean protein and maltose as raw materials. The outcomes showed that the freeze–thaw stability of the Pickering emulsion increased when prepared with an increase in soybean protein isolate (SPI) and maltose concentration. After three freeze–thaw treatments at 35 mg/mL, the Turbiscan Stability Index (TSI) value of the emulsion was the lowest. At this concentration, the surface hydrophobicity (H₀) of the composite particles was 33.6 and the interfacial tension was 44.34 mN/m. Furthermore, the rheological nature of the emulsions proved that the apparent viscosity and viscoelasticity of Pickering emulsions grew with a growing oil phase volume fraction and concentration. The maximum value was reached in the case of the oil phase volume fraction of 50% at a concentration of 35 mg/mL, the apparent viscosity was 18 Pa·s, the storage modulus of the emulsion was 575 Pa, and the loss modulus was 152 Pa. This research is significant for the production of freeze–thaw resistant products, and improvement of protein-stabilized emulsion products with high freeze–thaw stability.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become the leading cause of death, and it is critical to develop new functional foods to prevent intravascular thrombosis, the key cause of CVD. Fermented soy-based food is a good choice because of its native fibrinolytic enzyme (FE) activity. In this study, a strain that can produce a new type of fibrinolytic enzyme was selected from Chinese Douchi and identified as Bacillus licheniformis SFD-Y5 by molecular biology experiments and physiological and biochemical experiments. Single factor experiments combined with statistical experiments, including Plackett–Burman experiment, steepest ascent experiment and RSM (Box–Behnken design), were used to optimize the fermentation of FE by B. licheniformis SFD-Y5. The final FE activity was 2434.45 ± 28.49 IU/mL under optimal conditions, which is the highest FE activity produced by wild B. licheniformis so far. Further studies showed that Y5 FE is a serine metalloproteinase with good stability at alkaline pHs (pH 8.0–11.0). The results of our study could lay a foundation for the future production, molecular modification and further application in functional foods of Y5 FE.

This study focused on black rice starch as the research subject, constructing different ultrasonic power-based black rice starch-resveratrol (BRS-RE) composite systems to explore the correlation between structural changes, physicochemical properties, and in vitro digestion behavior. Ultrasound increased the complexation index (CI) to a maximum of 80.38 % at 400 W. Particle size initially increased and then decreased with ultrasonic power, indicating power-dependent molecular reorganization. FT-IR and Raman analyses indicated changes in the hydrogen-bonding environment and short-range order, while high-power ultrasound induced partial local reordering. Molecular docking suggested hydrogen-bonding and hydrophobic interactions between resveratrol and starch chains, with a potentially more favorable interaction with amylopectin than amylose. These structural changes improved hydration properties (maximum WAI, 2.61 g·g^-1) and gel strength, accompanied by increases in bound water and immobile water content. Additionally, thermal and rheological properties were altered (maximum ΔH, 10.11 J/g), and setback values indicated a reduced retrogradation tendency. In vitro digestion results showed a decrease in RDS and an increase in RS (up to 26.87 %). Correlation analysis linked structural disorder and reorganization to changes in hydration, gel network reinforcement, and digestion resistance. Based on these observations, the BRS-RE system exhibited property-dependent responses to ultrasonic power, reflecting varying contributions of starch-chain disruption, resveratrol association, and molecular reorganization across different structural and functional attributes. This work offers mechanistic insights and theoretical support for designing starch-based functional foods with reduced digestibility and potential glycemic benefits.