## 1 Introduction  
The chemical composition of the organic extractives is of great interest for characterizing the floral and/or geographical origin of honeys. In recent years a range of extractable natural organic substances that appear characteristic to be of the plant source have been identified as phytochemicals in different honeys [1,2]. For these analysis appropriate extraction methods should be applied to prevent the formation of artifacts generated by Strecker degradation, Maillard or non-enzymatic browning reactions [3]. In most cases, the extraction of organic compounds from the honey matrix is performed using solvents at room temperature [4,5], but the use of solvent-free systems (e.g. solid-phase microextraction) has also been proposed [6].  
A broad range of aliphatic, aromatic, and/or degraded carotenoid-like structures have been reported in the honey extracts and headspace [1,2]. Uniflorl honeys possess distinctive flavors, mainly derived from their nectar sources, indicating the presence of characteristic volatile components. The main components in source specific honey volatiles belong, in general, to three principal categories: terpen, norisoprenoids, and benzene derivatives [1,2]. Some of these substances have been described as characteristics of the floral source, and other compounds, like some alcohols, branched aldehydes, and furan derivatives, may be related to the microbial purity of honey processing and storage conditions. Specific markers of the botanical origin were also found such as methyl anthranilate for citrus honey [7], _trans_-oak lactone for holm-oak honeydew [8] or 2-amino- and 4-aminoacetophenone for chestnut honey [9].  
_Mentha_, the genus of Lamiaceae family, includes 25 species that are spread all over the world. Among them, _Mentha pullegium_ L. and _Mentha aquatica_ L., are well known aromatic plants. The constituents of _M. pullegium_ L. oil have been studied [10,11] and a difference in the composition of the oil major components (pulegone, isomenthone and piperitone) depending on the region of cultivation in different countries have been found. The essential oil of _M. aquatica_ L. is characterized by domination of menthofuran [12]. In general, very few references can be found on _Mentha_ spp. honeys [13,14], but without any chemical composition data. As Lamiaceae pollen is under-represented in the spectra, the minimum pollen percentage for _Mentha_ spp. honeys has been established at 20% [15,16].  
There are only a few studies in which the organic extractives of the bee-stomach have been correlated with those of the corresponding honey. Most recently, the comparison of the components of the extracts of linden honey and bee-stomach showed that nectar and honey stomach contain many aldehydes which were found as corresponding acids in the honey [17]. To the best of our knowledge, organic extractives from _Mentha_ spp. honey and from the corresponding bee-stomach have not yet been studied. A two-way approach was used for the research of honey volatiles: solvent-free headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE). Isolated organic extractives were analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC and GC/MS).