Martin S wrote:
> Does anyone know what a warden is, as in "and an Apple or a couple of
> Wardens". All wikipedia examples are non-eatable. I would guess you don't
> put traffic wardens in your pie, but you never know
>
> Found he
> http://www.theoldecookerybook.com/~t...=Original_text
>
> Martin S

From The Fruit Manual by Robert Hogg, published by The Journal of
Horticulture Office in 1884:

"This is a name applied to pears which from the firm texture of
their flesh never melt, and are used only when they are cooked.
The name is derived from the Cistercian Abbey of Warden, in
Bedfordshire, where a particular pear was cultivated and used in
pies, which were known as Warden pies, and it is within living
memory that these pies were hawked in the streets of Bedford as
'Wardens all hot.'...

"The name came to signify any long-keeping cooking pear, but I am
inclined to thin that the variety which gave rise to the name is
that which is now called the Black Worcester, or Parkinson's
Warden." This goes on to speak of various kinds of Wardens.

--
Jean B.