The common red cabbage plant as found in the local grocery store produces a chemical call cyanidin in its leaves.. The chemical structure shown is called a polyphenol, poly meaning “many” and phenol meaning it has “OH” groups. Many foods in a healthy diet contain high levels of naturally occurring phenols in fruits, vegetables, cereals, tea and coffee. Cyanidin has the formula of C15H11O6+. Cyanidin is also found in red berries. The chemical is easily extracted and changes color when in water with pH across the acid base scale, 0-14.