The determination of sweet cherry anthocyanins in crude material of three varieties using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and the curve-fitting deconvolution method is described. A linear relationship between the sweet anthocyanins content and the peak area at 1640-1630 cm(-1) was established with a high correlation coefficient (0.990). The deconvolution analysis using the curve-fitting method allowed the elimination of spectral interferences from other cell wall components. The proposed methodology was compared with a reference UV-vis spectrophotometric method and found equivalent in reproducibility and accuracy (F-test, t-test). The proposed method is simple, rapid, non-destructive for the analytical samples and could be applicable to any cherries. (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.