INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A classic summer dessert is taking center stage at the Indiana Historical Society as part of a special event celebrating Hoosier food traditions.

“Flavors of the Heartland” puts the spotlight on blackberry cobbler, a dish deeply rooted in family and regional history for Bethany Hrachovec, the society’s director of education and engagement.

Hrachovec shared the backstory behind the recipe, which starts in Missouri with a blackberry bush planted by her grandparents. “As kids, we would go every summer and pick blackberries,” she said. “And my grandma would then transform the blackberries into this blackberry cobbler that we’re making today at the Historical Society.”

After her grandparents passed, their eight children each received a cutting of the bush to plant at their own homes across the country. That tradition made its way to Indiana, where the family’s legacy lives on in Batesville, and in the berries being used in Wednesday’s event.

Hrachovec says her family’s move from Missouri to Indiana mirrors a much larger story about migration and identity. “I am not a native Hoosier, my little sister is, but the rest of my family all comes from Missouri,” she said. “We date back to the mid-1800s when they came over from Germany. They were born and raised in St. Thomas, Missouri.”

The featured recipe is just as rich as the story. “You take about five cups of blackberries, spread them in a pan, and you are going to make the most sugary topping you can imagine,” Hrachovec said. “It’s over three cups of sugar… and so it creates a nice pillowy top.”

The recipe also calls for flour, lemon juice, cornstarch, baking powder, milk, margarine, salt, and boiling water. It takes only about 10 minutes to prep but Hrachovec says the hardest part is waiting the hour it takes to bake.

The event runs from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Indiana History Center. Admission is included with a ticket to the museum.

And yes, vanilla ice cream is on the menu too.

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