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