Abstract:Highland barley protein was used as the primary raw material to prepare protein emulsions， which were then utilized as stock emulsions to produce highland barley protein emulsion Liangpi （EL）. The effects of different oil-phase volume fractions （0%-10%） on the retrogradation characteristics of highland barley protein EL were investigated using techniques including low-field nuclear magnetic resonance （LF-NMR）， X-ray diffraction （XRD）， and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-IR）. The experimental results showed that during the 7-day refrigeration period， as the oil-phase volume fraction increased from 0% to 10%， the hardness decreased while the water holding capacity （WHC） of all EL samples increased. Notably， sample EL-10 exhibited the smallest increase in hardness （31.60 N） while maintaining a relatively high WHC （60.87%）， indicating effective inhibition of retrogradation. After the ripening of EL samples， EL-10 had the largest average particle size （84.20 μm）， the lowest gelatinization temperature （74.93 ℃）， the highest peak viscosity（4 519.70 cP）， and a relatively high gelatinization enthalpy value （10.54 J/g）， which indicated an increased difficulty in retrogradation. The results of water distribution， crystal structure， and short-range ordering further confirmed that the increase in oil-phase volume fraction of emulsions could inhibit the retrogradation of EL samples. Therefore， the addition of highland barley protein emulsions could effectively inhibit the retrogradation of EL samples， and within the range of 0%-10% oil-phase volume fraction， a higher oil-phase volume fraction indicated a more significant inhibitory effect.