ABTS was activated to ABTSþ by addition of 1 g MnO2 with stirring for 30 min, and then the solution was centrifuged for 10 min at 7000 r.p.m. The solution was filtered through a syringe filter (0.2 mM) and diluted with the phosphate buffer to absorbency 0.600 0.010 at t0 (t ¼0 min). A 10 mL honey sample (0.5 g mL1) was added to 2 mL ABTSþ solution and absorbency was measured after 20 min (t20) at l¼ 734 nm and AOA (%) expressed from the Eq. (1) in mg ascorbic acid equivalent in kg of honey. Average values were determined from five parallel determinations.