A 25-year-old woman named Youyou from Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province, east China, became an internet sensation after cooking roses she got from her fiancé, Qianjiang Evening News reported on Friday.
Youyou and her boyfriend got engaged on December 9, after he surprised her with a gorgeous bunch of 99 red roses. Youyou was very sad when the flowers began to wither in a few days.
In order to retain the joy of saying yes to her beloved, the woman decided to preserve the flowers by cooking them into jam. Youyou hoped to use it to make rose-stuffed pancakes, a popular snack in some Chinese provinces, the report said.
Her mother later questioned whether the roses were edible, so the young woman turned to social media for advice. However, her question was thrust into the spotlight of Chinese internet users who flooder her account with comments, before she received any answer from an expert. Some praised her frugality and others joked about her devotion to food.
Later the official Weibo account of Chinese science periodical Bowu Magazine said the jam cannot be eaten. First, the flowers were not cultivated to be eaten and therefore contained pesticides. Secondly, the flowers Youyou used were modern Chinese roses rather than real roses. The Chinese rose has no sweet smell.
Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!
