Never been a fan of the cabbage, but did tell Amy yesterday on the way back from the shops, where cabbage was abundant and cheap, that Mrs. Smolarz, mother to a hockey-playing friend and university roommate for years 1 and 2, made authentically yummy cabbage rolls.

Mrs. Smolarz would be shocked to learn vegetable sellers in China have been caught spraying cabbages with a formaldehyde solution to keep them fresh in transit, the state news agency Xinhua has reported.

Xinhua said the practice had been common in eastern China for years.

The agency said it was being done because most farmers cannot afford refrigerated trucks for cabbages.

Formaldehyde is a toxic cancer-causing compound often used as a disinfectant and for embalming.

Yosh and Stan Shmenge – The Shmenge Brothers – would also be shocked. Here they are from the 1980s on Letterman, promoting their farewell concert, The Band-inspired Last Polka, with their smash hit, the Cabbage Rolls and Coffee Polka.