Edible liquid marbles and capsules covered with lipid crystals.

Liquid marbles are water droplets covered with solid particles. Here we show a method for the preparation of edible liquid marbles and capsules covered with fatty acid crystals and triacylglycerol crystals. We prepared liquid marbles using a simple method; namely, a water droplet was rolled on lipid crystals in petri dishes. The resulting marbles were converted to capsules covered with a lipid shell by heating. These marbles were stable not only on glass surfaces but also on water surfaces because they had rigid hydrophobic exteriors. The lifetime of the liquid marbles on water depended on the alkyl chain length of the lipid molecules and the pH of the water. These findings are useful for applying liquid marbles to food, cosmetic, and medical products.