Lord Derby apple trees

Lord Derby is a traditional large English cooking apple, ripening in the mid to late season - from mid-September to early October.

Lord Derby fills a useful gap in the culinary apple calendar, arriving after the early cookers such as Keswick Codlin and Grenadier, and before the later cookers such as Bramley. This is not a variety for winter storage but the apples can be kept for a month or so in a cool place.

The Victorian author Hogg rated Lord Derby as an "excellent culinary apple". The flavour is nicely acidic if picked young, but milder if picked when fully ripe (at which point the skin develops a more yellow hue).

Although usually considered a cooking apple, many Lord Derby enthusiasts regard it as an excellent sharp eating apple too.