In recent years, natural polysaccharide-based granules have gradually become a research hotspot because of their high biocompatibility and good biodegradability (Nobakht-Nia et al., 2025). Among all the natural biological macromolecules, starch is one of the most abundant, renewable and economical resources, which has been widely used as a emulsion stabilizer. Gorgon Euryale, commonly called Qianshi in China, is the mature seeds of the annual aquatic plant Euryale ferox Salisb. in the Nymphaeaceae family. Starch is the primary nutritional component in Gorgon Euryale. Studies have shown that Gorgon Euryale starch (GES) exhibited a lower GI value with a higher resistant starch content (Yang et al., 2023). As GES is derived from Gorgon Euryale, it retains the herbal medicinal values and exhibits probiotic effects due to its anti-digestibility (Qu et al., 2025). Since GES is a healthy food grade raw material and its average granule size (1.2 to 6.5 μm) is similar to the grain size of rice starch (2 to 10 μm) (Yang et al., 2021), it has big development potentials to be part of Pickering emulsion stabilizers.

Ball milling, a mechanochemical modification method, can remodel starch granules, disrupt their crystalline structure, and expose surface-active groups through high-energy mechanical action, thereby significantly improving the physicochemical properties of starch (Hao et al., 2024). Existing studies have shown that cereal flours were mechanically activated by ball milling treatment and could improve the flour functionally and batter viscoelastic properties (Tamilselvan et al., 2024). Ball milling can effectively reduce the granule size, enlarge its specific surface area, and enhance its adsorption capacity at the oil-water interface, providing a structural basis for the stabilization of Pickering emulsions(Van den Wouwer et al., 2025). In the study of corn starch, ball milling reduced the particle size from the microscale to the nanoscale, increased the surface energy, and significantly improved the interfacial activity (Shen et al., 2022).

Pickering emulsions, as oil-water dispersion systems stabilized by solid granules, exhibit broad application prospects in the fields of food, medicine, and cosmetics due to their low toxicity, environmental friendliness, and excellent interfacial stability (Farooq et al., 2025). Traditional Pickering emulsions often rely on chemically modified granules or synthetic nanomaterials. Pickering emulsions stabilized by single polysaccharide granules often face challenges such as insufficient storage stability and difficulty in regulating rheological properties (Rawal et al., 2024). Polysaccharide composite systems can effectively address these issues through synergistic effects (Krstonosic et al., 2024). Xanthan gum (XG), an anionic polysaccharide polymer, has excellent thickening, emulsifying, and network-building capabilities. XG is extensively used to stabilize Pickering emulsions via complexing with other molecules, such as pecan protein, lotus root starch, and fish myofibrillar protein (Huang et al., 2021; Ren et al., 2023; Xiong et al., 2019). Its composite system with starch has demonstrated unique advantages in the field of food colloids (Yermagambetova et al., 2024). Studies have shown that XG can interact with starch molecules through hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions, etc., forming a composite film at the oil-water interface and constructing a three-dimensional network structure in the aqueous phase, thereby enhancing the stability and rheological properties of emulsions (Liang et al., 2023).

Currently, to make natural GES starch nanoparticles (SNPs) upon ball milling modification and its application in Pickering emulsions are still limited. The underlying mechanism of the synergistic stabilization of Pickering emulsions by complexing ball-milled GES with XG remains insufficiently investigated. In this study, GES was modified by means of ball milling technology and ball-milled GES-XG complexes with different ratios were prepared. The granular structure remodeling and interfacial properties were characterized. By constructing a composite system of ball-milled GES and XG, the effects of different compounding ratios on the microstructure, particle size distribution, emulsifying properties, rheological properties, textural properties, and storage stability of Pickering emulsions were systematically investigated. The research aim was to reveal the synergistic stabilization mechanism of ball-milled GES with XG and offer theoretical supports for the efficient approach of natural polysaccharide-based Pickering emulsions.