## 4 Conclusions  
Soy protein isolate (SPI) or gum Arabic (GA), combined with maltodextrin, were used as encapsulating agents for the encapsulation of Prickly ash peel oleoresin (PPO) by spray-drying or freeze-drying. The physicochemical properties of the four encapsulated preparations were compared with those of PPO. All microcapsules had excellent dispersibility in water, which effectively changed the physical properties of PPO and solved its low water solubility. Spray-dried microcapsules had a smaller particle size, reduced surface oil content, enhanced water-binding capacity, and superior antioxidant capacity, compared with freeze-dried microcapsules. Furthermore, microcapsules with GA as the encapsulating agent had higher thermal stability and oxidation resistance than those with SPI.  
The analysis of PPO and the microcapsules using HS-SPME-GC-MS identified 41 flavors, and linalool, sabinene, \(\beta\)-myrcene, and D-limonene were, quantitatively, the major flavor components. The concentrations of these flavors decreased during air exposure, with SG having the highest retention of these compounds. The DPPH scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging, and lipid peroxide scavenging capabilities of SG were higher than those of the other encapsulation methods, and all were markedly higher than those of PPO. These findings demonstrated that the microcapsules effectively preserved the flavors of PPO for a longer time and possessed excellent antioxidant properties. Consequently, these results are anticipated to facilitate the development of novel Zanthoxylum products as food ingredients.  
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13111726/sl](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13111726/sl)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13111726/sl](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13111726/sl)). Figure S1: Changes in the total amount of six volatile compounds in PPO, SS, and SG within 15 days.  
Conceptualization, [PERSON] ([PERSON]) and [PERSON]; methodology, [PERSON] ([PERSON]), [PERSON] ([PERSON]), X.L., S.L., H.G., M.L., Y.Z. and L.H.; software, [PERSON] ([PERSON]); validation, [PERSON] ([PERSON]) and X.L.; formal analysis, [PERSON] ([PERSON]); investigation, H.L. and  
Figure 5: Antioxidant analysis of PPO, SS, SG, FS, and FG over 15 days: (**a**) DPPH clearance rate, (**b**) scavenging hydroxyl radicals, and (**c**) lipid hydroperoxide clearance.  
[PERSON]; resources, [PERSON]; data curation, [PERSON] ([PERSON]) and [PERSON]; writing--original draft preparation, [PERSON] ([PERSON]); writing--review and editing, [PERSON]; visualization, [PERSON] ([PERSON]) and [PERSON]; supervision, [PERSON]; funding acquisition, [PERSON] All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This work was funded by the Qingdao People's Livedihood Science and Technology Plan Project (23-2-8-xdny-6-nsh, 23-3-8-xdny-1-nsh, and 24-1-8-xdny-16-nsh), the Shandong Province Technology Innovation Guidance Plan (YDZX2023035), the Qingdao Natural Science Foundation (23-2-1-180-zyyd-jch), the Innovation Ability Improvement Project of Science and Technology SMEs in Shandong Province (2022 TSGC2520 and 2023 TSGC0892), and The Two Hundred Talents Project of Yantai City in 2020, Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China (2023 TZXD078 and 2023 TZXD047).  
Not applicable.  
The data used to support the findings of this study can be made available by the corresponding author upon request.  
Author [PERSON], [PERSON] was employed by the company LIHOOS (Qingdao) Food Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.