Green and red crab apples. Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography, Flickr.

• Chef Normand Laprise writes about the health perks, versatility and deliciousness of apples, and offers a recipe for Geneva Apple Puree.
  
• Canada's Le Mamirolle uses a French process to create a strong cheese with a sweet and salty taste for fromage fiends.
• Toronto's Pico serves "bipolar" cooking on the whole, but boasts an exceptional brunch.
  
• Sweet dining spots across Canada are experimenting with fancy versions of the classic marshmallow -- from pumpkin flavors to gelatin-free concoctions -- and offering up refined s'mores.
• As fall approaches, there are five things to add to your pantry: spelt, icewine jelly, matcha tea, spicy chocolate and barbecue sauce.
• Fish continue to suffer as we delight in all things from the sea. Now a new study says our obsession with omega-3 fatty acids could bring on "a forage fish wipeout."
• If done right, corn dogs can be a perfect party treat.

Basil sangria. Photo: YumSugar

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

We've heard of basil mojitos, but how about basil sangria?

The Sydney International Food Festival whips up a tasty marketing campaign, showcasing international foods fashioned out of traditional ingredients into flags of the countries they represent.

How to throw a dinner party fit for the "Gossip Girl" season premiere.

S'mores shun those melting-hot campfire flames and become a frozen treat.

A couple in Florida claim that they found a frog in their can of Diet Pepsi.

Seven twists on trail mix offer variety to school lunches.

Do you like sushi?

Barbecuing pizza seems to be all the rage these days, but that's nothing compared to this video! Sleek grills and homey comforts seem like child's play compared to one backpacker making pizza on a camp stove in the wilderness.

Sure, Backpacker Magazine Associate Editor Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan is cooking during a snowy winter (!), but the idea definitely works now as we head into the heart of prime camping season. What's truly impressive about this recipe is that the whole dish is made from scratch. She didn't even lug along a pre-made crust, but whipped one up with Bisquick and water!

A sizzling pizza pie in the heart of the forest in five to eight minutes? S'mores might finally have a little outdoor comfort food competition.

My family used to have Thanksgiving dinner with just me, my parents, and my two younger brothers. We'd eat roasted chicken (since 5 is too few for a turkey) and then toast marshmallows in the fireplace for dessert. I always crave s'mores around Thanksgiving as a result, and I've been trolling the web for recipes/articles about this delicious snack. Here are a few of the best:

1. Inside-out s'mores from Foodaphilia

2. S'mores bread pudding from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

4. Pumpkin spice marshmallows from Serious Eats (for putting into s'mores!)

5. S'mores maker form Kitchen Contraptions. I think I need this.

6. A cookbook all about S'mores, reviewed by Baking Bites.

7. S'mores cookies from Cookie Madness

8. S'mores cupcakes from Cupcake Bakeshop

For the last five years, I've spent Labor Day Weekend at a summer camp on the Chesapeake Bay with a bunch of friends. The first night of camp, there is always a large bonfire and we make so many s'mores that by the end of the night everyone feels a little sick from the amount of sugar they've ingested (it's a good kind of sick though). I look forward to that weekend all year, and this picture (from Another Pint Please...) gets me looking forward to it even more.

Thanks Mike, for adding yet another delicious picture to the the Slashfood Flickr pool.

Competitive eating isn't just for professionals anymore, these days anyone who had a video camera and a few minutes can get in the game. Sweet Sweet Confections, a candy company out of San Jose, CA is currently running a contest in which contestants see how many S'mores bars they can eat in three minutes. Sweet Sweet is offering those bars at 25% off through the contest (which ends September 30th), however even with the discount they are still sort of spendy to be stuffing into your mouth with wild abandon. The winner (many will enter, few will win) will be reimbursed for the cost of their candy and will be awarded a cash prize and free chocolate (although I wonder the winner will even be particularly interested in chocolate after going the distance to win this contest).

Somehow, the fact that August 10th is National S'mores Day managed to sneak by us, but these delicious treats are worth a mention, even if it is a bit belated.

If you're not familiar with s'mores, they are made by sandwiching a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate in between two graham crackers. The name of the treat comes from the two words "some more," clearly combined because people often wanted to have at least a second serving after having one s'more. The treat was developed by campers in the early part of the 20th century, making use of the fairly new mass-produced marshmallows. Marshmallows were easy to transport, as were candy bars and graham crackers, and the marshmallows could be warmed easily over a fire to make a delicious treat in a situation where other types of sweets would have been difficult to come by.

If the sugary coating on Peeps is too much for you, the Bunnymallows made by Kraft may be the perfect solution. Smaller and more colorful than their large Jet-Puffed cousins, the Bunnymallows are seasonally shaped into miniature bunnies. They seemed to be lighter and less dense than regular Jet Puffs, but it is possible that, because they are a seasonal item, the package was simply much fresher than the bags of marshmallows I usually encounter in stores. Whatever the reason for their wonderfully light texture, they were delicious.