Around 1830, Bavarian King Ludwig I had hundreds of sweet chestnuts planted around his summer residence Villa Ludwigshöhe near Edenkoben. Today, a 50-kilometre-wide strip of sweet chestnuts stretches between the Palatinate Forest and the Southern Wine Route.
In bad times, the Palatinate people used the fruits of the tree as a substitute for bread, and the Küffer people processed the elastic but weather-resistant wood into wine barrels.

Chestnuts are no longer a poor man's food - on the contrary: the fruit has long since been used for enjoyment and not just for satiety, as one learns at the culinary Keschdefeschd in Annweiler am Trifels. There, market stalls with products from and around the chestnut await you: soup, sausage, Saumagen, dumplings, cakes, honey, chestnut brandy, liqueur or beer.

The highlight of the festivities is the coronation of the chestnut princess on Saturday, accompanied by musical entertainment.
There is a special programme for children and those who wish can discover the chestnut forest on their own along the well-signposted Pälzer Keschdeweg (Chestnut Trail).

There are festivals around chestnuts in the Palatinate, but not only in Annweiler: On the 2nd weekend in October, Edenkoben celebrates its wine and chestnut market near Villa Ludwigshöhe. And in Hauenstein - always in the second week in October  - the Hauenstein Chestnut Market takes place.