In tough economic times, a new money-saving ingredient for stir-fries is gaining in popularity among Chinese internet users: rocks.

Videos of chefs making stir-fried rocks are the latest trend on Chinese social media. Some show chefs frying up pebbles with garlic and chilli at busy night markets, while others depict bucolic scenes of villagers cooking freshly fished stones on a riverbank.

However it is made, the dish, known as suodiu (suck and discard) is having a resurgence, at least in videos of people pranking unsuspecting friends. While some online chefs insist that it’s a delicious dish, other videos show unsuspecting diners spitting out the stones in horror.

One video with nearly 800,000 views shows a chef offering up a portion of suodiu for 16 yuan (£1.74), which some said was expensive considering that the ingredients can be reused.

The dish is said to date back hundreds of years, when boatmen in the landlocked province of Hubei would run out of animals and vegetables while travelling along the Yangtze River, and so turned to minerals. Unsurprisingly, according to one history of the dish, it faded in popularity after economic development and motorised vessels came to Hubei, reducing the chances of boatmen being stranded without supplies.

The dish is also linked to the Tujia people, an ethnic minority who originate from the Wuling mountain range that straddles the borders of Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou.

According to one food blog, the river stones have a naturally fishy taste that is enhanced when fried at a high heat.

But whatever their culinary appeal, many people are not convinced. Some people have flagged the choking risks. Another commenter predicts that the next food trend will be an ingredient that’s easier to swallow: mud.

Additional research by Chi Hui Lin