The assessment of the botanical origin of unifloral honeys is an important application in food
control. The current official methods mainly use pollen analysis. The aim of this paper is to present an
SPME analytical approach to the study of honey volatiles. Honey samples (40) obtained from hive sites
in different regions of Italy were analysed. The samples had six different botanical origins: citrus (five),
chestnut (10), eucalyptus (eight), lime tree (11), thyme (two) and dandelion (four). Melissopalynological
analysis was also performed. Identification of volatile compounds was carried out by SPME/GC/MS
analysis, and quantitative evaluation was done by SPME/GC/FID analysis for compounds with wellresolved
peaks. Using the SPME method, all samples with the same botanical origin gave remarkably
similar GC profiles. Some volatile compounds were found only in specific floral source honey samples and
thus could be interesting for use as markers.
