Physical and phytochemical composition of 23 Portuguese sweet cherries as conditioned by variety (or genotype)

•First HPLC-DAD-ESI/MSn analysis of a large number of Portuguese sweet cherries.•Quantification of the phenolics via HPLC-DAD of 23 Portuguese sweet cherries.•First report about physicochemical composition of 23 Portuguese sweet cherries.•First report about quality parameters of 23 Portuguese sweet cherries.•Obtention of a regression linear able to predict the sum of phenolic compounds. This study aimed to analyze physicochemical characteristics and phenolic profile of twenty-three sweet cherry cultivars from Fundão region, Portugal. The average length and width ranged between 1.9 and 2.6 and 2.1–2.8 cm, respectively. Weight varied between 4.9 and 11.8 g, firmness ranged from 7.3 to 20.1 N, moisture and ash contents ranged from 75.1 to 88.6% and 0.4 to 2.9%, respectively. Sunburst and Sweetheart presented high values of CIEL∗, a∗ and b∗, and low values regarding total soluble solids and maturity index. A total of 46 phenolic compounds were identified by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MSn and quantified by HPLC-DAD, namely 19 hydroxycinnamic acids, 2 hydroxybenzoic acids, 13 flavonols, 5 flavan-3-ols, 2 flavanones, 1 flavanonol and 4 anthocyanins. Sunburst and Brook’s were the richest in non-colored phenolics, while Garnet and Tavora were the richest ones in anthocyanins. Therefore, our results revealed that sweet cherries represent a supply of high-value bioactive compounds, being greatly influenced by the cultivar.