In a jeep that hurtles up and down rocky hills, agronomist Davide Cavallaro shows me the effort that goes into producing a bottle of Etna Rosso, a fierce red dubbed Italy's 'sexiest wine' by Vinitaly, a prestigious wine fair. At Cottanera vineyard, on the volcano's northern flank, I get another taste of what they come for. Tourists to Sicily used to stick to the coast, but these days, magnetic Etna pulls them towards her.

Coiled like a snail and grilled, it's a match for any fancy meal served in Shalai. It's a product of the Slow Food Organisation's 'Ark of Taste' – a list of at-risk regional heritage foods. At Dai Pennisi, a tiny trattoria inside their butcher's shop, I tackle a salsiccia al ceppo – a giant sausage, prepared on a slice of Etnean oak and spiced with wild fennel plucked from the volcano side. Foodies flock to nearby Linguaglossa, where the Pennisi family of butchers has a Michelin-starred restaurant, Shalai, in their hotel of the same name. Santo Musumeci's gelato has won countless awards. All around the volcano, Mamma Etna's charges are using her fertile land to produce things to make a mother proud. 'Turning fresh fruit into gelato is a real responsibility – not just to the producers, but to Etna herself,' says Giovanna with some seriousness. The Musumeci family has always sourced their ingredients from producers working on the slopes of what Sicilians call 'idda' – simply, 'her'. Rearing up above an alleyway is Etna herself.

Opposite Giovanna's gelateria in Randazzo stands a gothic church built of dark volcanic stone. People are warmer, flavours are more pronounced, the landscape is more dramatic. Here, in the shadow of Mount Etna, things hit differently. Figs, raspberries, prickly pears, those yellow raspberries and creamy toasted almonds – I try them all. At Santo Musumeci – the gelateria founded by their late father – they're known for their granita: shaved ice swirled with fruit. Giovanna and sister Sandra want to introduce me to something even better than gelato. It's fresh and tangy but with a creamy base. Oro Verde della Sicilia (Sicilian Green Gold) is an award-winning mix of pistachio, mandarin and caramelised almonds. In the end, I opt for the triumvirate of Sicilian ingredients. It's a tricky choice: will it be pistachio from nearby Bronte? Yellow raspberries, grown on the slopes of Mount Etna? Or local walnuts, toasted in their shells by Giovanna? It's closing time at the gelateria, but Giovanna Musumeci is waiting patiently as I pick the flavour to crown my cone. This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).

The shadow rising