Plums (Italian: pruna/susina), originally uploaded by dewelch.

Here are some lovely, tiny, plums that were growing in our cousins garden in Sicily. Such a nice little mouthful, although it did have some fairly large seeds inside. Juicy as all get out, too.

That “dirt” you see on the leaves is actually sabbia, or ash, from a previous eruption of Mount Etna nearby. This ash makes for some very fertile, black soil, but the ash can negatively effective leaves and can prove toxic to grazing animals. Overall, though, it tends to allow for some amazing fruits and nuts. We tasted quite a few directly from the trees on this visit and they were quite amazing.