Phenolic compounds and abscisic acid as potential markers for the floral origin of two Polish unifloral honeys

The phenolic profiles of Polish honey samples from heather (Calluna vulgaris L.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum L.) were determined. The phenolic components were isolated from honey samples using Amberlite-XAD-2 as a solid-phase extraction sorbent. For the determination of the composition of the honey extracts HPLC with photodiode array detector was applied. Identification and quantification of phenolics was performed by comparison of their retention times and UV spectra with those of standard solutions of pure reference substances and by using those references as external standards. From among 20 commercially available standards over 15 of them were identified as present in all analysed samples. Taking into account the samples of the same unifloral honeys, similar qualitative but slightly quantitatively different phenolic characteristic profiles were observed. These profiles might be considered as “fingerprints” of heather and buckwheat honeys.