Determining the content of procyanidins from chestnut shells respectively with two kinds of methods. The average purity of purified product was 74.78% (RSD=0.99%) by using HPLC. Firstly optimizing molysite catalytic chromogenic condition of colorimetry to determine the colorimetric optimization of procyanidins from chestnut shells (CSPCs) by colorimetry with ferric ions as catalysis agent, on the basis of single-factor experiments, an orthogonal experimental design was employed, with Absorbance of extract as an index, to optimize four factors. The optimum colorimetric conditions were Fe³⁺ concentration of 0.01 g/mL, reaction time of 40 min, reaction temperature of 100 ℃, butanol-hydrochloric acid volume ratio (V/V) of 93∶7, the average purity of purified product was 74.67% (RSD=1.68%) by using colorimetry with ferric ions as catalysis agent. The results showed that both methods have the the advantage of good accuracy and high sensitivity, of which the HPLC method is more reliable with lower RSD. Therefore, the HPLC method can dectect the content of CSPCs purified product in a swift, accurate and practical way.