**4. Conclusions**

The physicochemical parameters of raspberry, mint, sunflower, thyme, rape and polyfloral honey samples from di fferent regions in Romania were analyzed in order to examine their usefulness in the classification of honey according to botanical origin. All honey samples had pH and free acidity values in the limits permitted by quality standards, which confirm the freshness of all honey samples. With the exception of three samples (two samples of mint honey and one sample of thyme honey) that had HMF content above the allowed limit, all the samples that were analyzed in this study met the quality requirements for honey. For most of the physicochemical parameters (color parameters, electrical conductivity, HMF content, DPPH, free acidity and pH) the di fferences between the measured levels were determined by the botanical origin of honey. The sugar composition, individual phenolic compounds and organic acids composition of honey varied to some extent between samples, however, these parameters were not influenced by the botanical origin of honey. As a consequence, no compound that can be used as a chemical marker was identified. PCA analysis was successful in the rape, sunflower and thyme honey samples while the mint and raspberry honey have not been clearly separated, but for a better classification of unknown honey it is necessary to increase the number of samples analyzed.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, D.P.; formal analysis, D.P. and F.D.; funding acquisition, M.O.; investigation, D.P.; methodology, D.P., F.D. and M.O.; project administration, M.O.; software, F.D.; supervision, M.O.; validation, D.P.; writing—original draft, D.P.; writing—review and editing, F.D. and M.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported by contract no. 18PFE/16.10.2018 funded by the Ministry of Research and Innovation within Program 1—Development of national research and development system, Subprogram 1.2—Institutional Performance -RDI excellence funding projects.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
