The thinned-young apple polysaccharides from three varieties were obtained by hot water extraction at 88 C for 120 min. The compositional monosaccharides of the three polysaccharides were shown to be the same (xylose, mannose, galactose and glucose) and the molecular weights of the polysaccharides were in the range of 200-300 kDa. Compared with "Qinyang" and "Pinklady", the polysaccharide from "Jinshiji" had the highest emulsifying capacity. Moreover, the variations in pH and cation ion concentrations had also a significant effect on the emulsifying properties of the extracted polysaccharides. At pH 2.0-4.0, the prepared emulsion had smaller droplet sizes than at higher pH values. Although the emulsion was stable at low concentrations of Na+ and Ca2+ ions, high concentrations of Na+ and Ca2+ led to significant destabilization of the emulsion. Conclusively, our results demonstrated the potential application of thinned-young apple polysaccharide as a natural polysaccharide emulsifying agent. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.