Study on the Physicochemical Properties of Enzymatic Chicken Soup Microcapsule Powder and the Release of Characteristic Odors during Storage

The odor of enzymatic chicken broth is volatile, leading to reduced food quality. A microencapsulation system can be employed to protect the odor. In this study, enzymatic chicken broth was used as the raw material, and three different samples were prepared by spray drying technology: unencapsulated enzymatic chicken broth powder (EB), enzymatic chicken broth microcapsule powder (BPA) with pea albumin as the wall material, and enzymatic chicken broth microcapsule powder (BPAT) with pea albumin and aciculin as a composite wall material. The physical properties and structures of the different powders were compared, and the release characteristics of key odor compounds during storage and dissolution were investigated. The results indicated that, compared to the EB sample, the particle size and moisture content of the BPA and BPAT samples increased, while solubility slightly decreased. Specifically, BPA had the largest particle size (51.58±0.08 μm), whereas BPAT displayed the highest moisture content (6.14%±0.13%) and the lowest solubility (73.33%±2.88%). During storage, significant losses of key odor compounds were observed in the EB sample. In particular, 2-n-amylfuran and 1-octene-3-ol were not detected at the start of storage. In contrast, the BPA and BPAT samples formed an odor-encapsulating microcapsule system, which effectively maintained a high retention and stable release of odor compounds. For example, the release of hexanal in the BPA sample after dissolution increased by 3.67 times, reaching 7396.94 μg/L. The BPA samples exhibited protective effects on most of the selected key odor compounds, whereas the BPAT samples demonstrated better retention of 1-octene-3-ol. Additionally, the odor released from the powder before dissolution was significantly lower than that released after dissolution, suggesting that most odor compounds were effectively confined within the powder matrix. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that the microcapsule system formed by pea albumin and aciculin could reduce odor evaporation, providing a new theoretical basis for the microencapsulation of enzymatically hydrolyzed chicken powder and the protection of its characteristic odor substances.