All the messages about cabbage made me think about food microbiology. All agricultural crops have soil microorganisms. We have made sourkraut at home. The cabbage is shredded and salt is added. The high salt concentration creates an environment favoring certain bacteria. These ferment the cabbage, creating acid, which helps to preserve the sourkraut. If you find a recipe for making sourkraut, you will notice that it talks about weighting the mixture down with a cover. It is a bubbling, odiferous creation. Cabbage bacteria on open wounds would NOT be good. Becky