**3.11. Total flavonoid content**

In spite of the higher flavonoid content for some autumn honey samples (212.86 and 197.57 mg RE/100 g), there was no statistical difference in content for honey samples from the three seasons (**Table 7**). The mean flavonoid content for the three seasons was 31.154 ± 17.729, 37.651 ± 8.460, and 31.420 ± 11.373 mg RE/100 g honey, respectively. As compared to similar studies, the Maltese honey samples contained superior flavonoid content to that observed in other similar studies with quantities ranging between 1.35 and 9.78 mg RE/100 g honey [37, 38].

#### **3.12. Radical scavenging activity: the DPPH assay**

The mean DPPH inhibition in mg AEAC/100 g honey for autumn, spring and summer was 9.300 ± 1.292, 5.805 ± 0.610 and 5.238 ± 0.657, respectively (**Table 7**). The autumn honey samples had a superior DPPH inhibitory activity with respect to the other two seasons (*p*< 0.01). This may be due to the presence of carob nectar in autumn honey which contains high amounts of polyphenols and tannins, as noted in Ref. [39].


**Table 7.** Total polyphenolic (mg TAE/100 g honey), total flavonoid (mg RE/100 g honey), DPPH (AAE-DPPH mg AEAC/100 g honey) and reducing power (mg AEAC/100 g honey) values for honey samples from the three seasons.

#### **3.13. Reducing power**

The Maltese honey samples had antiradical activity values between 3.33 and 15.62 mg AEAC/100 g honey (**Table 7**). The mean reducing power in mg AEAC/100 g honey for the autumn, spring and summer seasons were 12.67 ± 1.093, 16.600 ± 1.979 and 14.250 ± 0.035 mg AEAC/100 g, respectively. The reducing power values were similar to those obtained by Savatović et al. [38], i.e. 1.43–7.82 mg AEAC/100 g honey but lower than those obtained by Meda et al. [40], i.e. 10.20–37.87 mg AEAC/100 g honey. In the study by Savatović et al. [38], it was pointed out that monofloral honeys provide a higher reducing power than multifloral honeys. This was also observed for the Maltese honey with the monofloral autumn and summer samples showing higher activity (7.54 and 6.96 mg AEAC/100 g honey) than the multifloral spring samples (5.98 mg AEAC/100 g honey).
