The composite films incorporating CEO and CWO wer ally homogeneous with no brittle areas or bubbles, and could be easily peeled from the casting plates. To identify the highest concentration of either CEO or Cwo that could be incorporated into the CH matrix, increasing amounts (up to 50% w/w) were tested in the filmforming solution. As we expected, a stronger aroma was found when the concentration of essential oil increased. No lipid separation occurred in composite films even when the essential oil content was high. Generally, the effects of additives on the properties of the films depended on the type of compounds and concentrations and their inherent hyrophilicity and hydrophobicity indices. The composite CH film thickness varied between the range of 22 and 27 kum, and the incorporation of two essential oils (CEO and CWO) did not significantly (P 0.05) affect the resulting film thickness (data not shown). Control CH films generally were very hydrophilic, and swelled when they absorbed water quickly. As shown in Table CH films without any essential oil had significantly higher (P0.05) in films incorporating either CEO or Cwo. Moisture uptake decreased significantly (P