最是蚕豆惹念想

赵畅

母亲几十年来还一直保留着自己的传统手艺“蚕豆饭”。时节到了，即便远在上海的我的女儿和远在北京的外甥女也会像候鸟一样准时返回，尽管是借着探望长辈的名号，但其中也有为了尝一尝奶奶、外婆“蚕豆饭”手艺的小心计。

春色撩人，尤其在天高云淡的映衬下，大地鲜亮万分、气象万千。农村的田地里，除了一大片一大片金黄灿烂的油菜花，那越冬而来的蚕豆也开出了一垄垄、满簇簇的蚕花，美得让人失声叫喊。

到了立夏季节，蚕豆就可以采摘了。刚刚摘下的蚕豆，一俟剥开豆荚，那嫩绿的豆粒抵近嗅闻，便有缕缕清香扑面而来。

豆子背后的记忆

前不久的一天，我独自穿行在四明山区一个小山村连片种植的蚕豆田垄间。定睛细看，在密匝匝、油润润的叶隙间错落有致盛开的蚕花，分明就是一只只翩翩飞舞、悠然停歇在蚕豆间的蝴蝶。而紫白色蚕豆花花瓣上那斑耀眼的圆黑，则恍若蚕豆窥春的眼睛——它或许永远不知道，其实它自己本身也是一道春天里亮丽无比的独特风景。“东风袅，蝶花妖。惊心兰蔻艳春娇。绛株玉茎无人赋，俏蕊风流自艳摇。”这该是诗人因仰慕缱绻而心旌摇曳的写照了。

与其说我爱蚕豆花，倒不如说我爱的是它的果实。对蚕豆最初的记忆，源自寄养在乡村祖父家时祖母嚼碎蚕豆喂我的那一刻。尽管现在想来，这样的喂食并不卫生，但恰恰是这温馨倍至的举动，却永远横亘在了我味蕾和感情的深处。蚕豆，被祖母叫做“罗汉豆”，后来才知这是绍兴人的俗称，因其形似罗汉头，更兼其神似——罗汉是佛教中逍遥闲适的角色，而蚕豆制成的茴香豆是绍兴最常见的的“闲食”，茶馆以之为茶食，故以罗汉命名蚕豆。

清明过去，要不了多少时间，蚕豆身上便豆荚累累，且每天不见其长却日有所长。想起孩提时，几个伙伴们会轮流着去自家地里偷吃，我们称之为“捉青虫”。记得汪曾祺先生在《蚕豆二题》中写道：“我们那时偷吃的是最嫩的蚕豆，也就是长得尚未饱满的，躲在软软的羽叶间，有细细的绒毛，尾巴上尚留些残花，像极了蚕宝宝，只颜色是青的，家乡人有时干脆就戏称其为‘青虫子，摘一条在手里，毛茸茸的，硬软适度，剥开壳——或者也不必剥，只一掰就断了，两三粒翠玉般的嫩蚕豆舒适地躺在软白的海绵里，正呼呼大睡，一挤也就出来了，直接扔入口中，清甜的汁液立刻在口中迸出，新嫩莫名。”汪曾祺先生笔下的情景，与我们当年“捉青虫”情节是何等相似。

各种美好的吃法

每年到了蚕豆上市季节，不管价格多贵，父亲都会买回来给我们尝鲜。自然，蚕豆不剥皮而水煮，这是最本真最地道也是最具原味的尝鲜。饕餮一尝留下的舌尖印记，以“三月不知肉味”喻之，怕是最恰当不过的了。自然，母亲也不甘示弱，几十年来她还一直保留着自己的传统手艺“蚕豆饭”。而每到这个时候，即便远在上海的女兒和远在北京的外甥女也会像候鸟一样准时返回，尽管借着探望长辈的名号，但其中也有为了尝一尝奶奶和外婆“蚕豆饭”手艺的小心计。

母亲的蚕豆饭，其原料就是剥皮的蚕豆、切成细粒的火腿肉以及白净的糯米。煮饭前，母亲通常会将蚕豆在油锅中汆一下，然后再放入若干细粒火腿肉和糯米，撮上些许盐，续上适量的热水烧煮。不知何故，这般加工出来的蚕豆饭，就是别具一格、无可比拟。尤其当蚕豆的清香、火腿的鲜香与糯米的糯香交融一起，蚕豆如翡翠绿、火腿似宝石红、糯米像和田白糅合一块之时，岂一个妙字了得！要不了多少时间，一大锅蚕豆饭便早早地被我们风卷残云般地一扫而光。

蚕豆的吃法很多，按照传统的加工方法，鲜嫩时尽可用清水煮着吃、放蛋汤吃、剥皮蒸咸肉吃、与红苋菜炒了吃，晒干成为老蚕豆后，则可孵出豆芽佐咸菜吃、铁锅细砂翻炒吃、放入油锅炸了吃。最让人心仪的，大约要算是炒干蚕豆了。20世纪六七十年代，物质特别匮乏，加之家庭经济拮据，于是，炒干蚕豆成了我们家里最为常见的零食。炒干蚕豆，最好是用柴灶，并用铁锅和米粒大小的细砂。用柴灶，主要是容易控制火候，开始可以用点猛火，慢慢地，最后就借余烬来炒。母亲说：“炒干蚕豆，先用猛火是为了让干豆僵硬的身体尽快苏醒起来、舒展过来。尔后不再添柴，将余烬拢一拢，再炒上一会儿，则是为了从外到内慢慢攻其里掏其心。用剩余的柴火炒干豆，恰似用温热的手去慢慢抚摸蚕豆，直至它深红油亮而至熟透、香脆。佐以细砂，当是出于均匀炒制的考虑。”作为教师的母亲，一番形象比喻和富于哲理的话语，早就勾出了我们肚里蠢蠢欲动的馋虫。

因为炒蚕豆是日常的零食，差不多半个来月母亲都会给我们姐弟几个分配一次。有一回，因为起床迟了，没吃早饭，我就匆匆赶往学校。在肚子饿得咕咕叫的时候，我突然想到了留在口袋的几粒炒蚕豆。为了不被老师发现，我剥了几粒偷偷含在嘴里。慢慢地，因为含软，于是我竟情不自禁地嚼动起来。真是奇怪，随着几粒蚕豆的吞咽，肚子始偃旗息鼓而不再闹腾。可未曾想及，就在嘴巴不自觉的张合间，炒蚕豆的酽酽醇香也在“跑风漏气”，且很快被全班同学和正在授课的老师发现了。当我认错并说明了上课嚼炒蚕豆的原委以后，老师和同学还是原谅了我。授课老师甚至还不忘他平日的幽默，转过身笑着说道：“这蚕豆炒得是到家了，这不，炒蚕豆的香气竟然盖过了我上课的人气。下次有机会，我一定上你家去取取经呵！”

放入油锅炸了吃，那是一种被江南人称之为“兰花豆”的加工方法。就是先将蚕豆放入水中浸泡一下，待其软化便在豆嘴上剁一刀。这剁一刀，可是大有学问。听母亲说，“这剁下去要不偏不倚剁在蚕豆扁平面的中间，而且长度要放在从豆嘴到豆身的三分之二处。这样下油锅炸出来的‘兰花豆不仅好看，而且食用起来也易于用舌尖和牙齿将豆壳剔除”。果真如母亲所说的一样，这般剁过的蚕豆放入油锅一炸，便缓缓裂开而向外翻开，就如慢镜头中花瓣的绽放一样。待其油炸成型，则形似“兰花”。“兰花豆”的得名，就由此而来。母亲炸的“兰花豆”好吃，不啻因为有像似兰花的造型和富于诗意的名字，更是因为它那令人难忘的口感——它是脆的，它的脆很有分寸，松脆有致，既不松垮、脆弱还爽利不乏嚼劲;它是醇的，它的醇是淡雅悠长的，是菜油、豆香浑然一体、滋润有加的滋味。难怪，每年的年夜饭，“兰花豆”总是成为集体的“定制菜”。就如父亲所言：“要是桌上少了一碗‘兰花豆，年夜饭吃起来也就不香了。”

一粒小小的蠶豆，竟然成为我们生活中不可或缺的一部分，这是始料未及的。而今，市场上的物资供应也早已今非昔比，可谓应有尽有。即便是作为零食，休闲食品也是多了去了，但不知为何，蚕豆在我们全家人心里的地位始终无法替代、无可撼动——说到底，这是因为蚕豆中承载着全家人几十年来太多的情感，以及对于由蚕豆喂养而成的幸福内涵的特别解读。

My love of broad beans started in childhood years. In my earliest memory my grandmother fed road beans to me when I was just a baby girl living with my grandparents in a village in Shaoxing. In Shaoxing， broad beans are called the arhat beans because they look somewhat like the image of an arhat in Buddhism. These beans were the most favorite between-meal nibbles in the years when I was a kid.

Also in my memory of childhood years， we kids stole broad beans from vegetable gardens of our families in turn. Broad beans in days after the Qingming Festival are sweet， tender and succulent. We took the beans out of their fuzzy pods and threw them into the mouth and chewed the juicy beans like a glutton.

When I was a kid， my father always bought broad beans when they were first available in the local produce market no matter how exorbitant they were. These broad beans were cooked in water without taking the pods off. This is my fathers favorite recipe. My mother gives us a different broad bean treat. Her recipe is for broad-bean rice. Ingredients in her recipe are diced ham， broad beans， and glutinous rice. Over the past decades， I have enjoyed the treat every year. My daughter in Shanghai and my sisters daughter in Beijing come back to visit us in the spring time every year. I know in my heart they also come for the broad-bean rice my mother prepares after the Qingming Festival when broad beans are available.

In Shaoxing， there are many ways to turn broad beans into delicious dishes. When broad beans are fresh and tender and succulent， they can be directly cooked in plain water， they can be an ingredient in egg soup， steamed with bacon， or cooked with amaranth. Dehydrated broad beans can be rehydrated and let shoots come out. Such broad beans can be cooked with pickled vegetables. Dried broad beans can also be turned into between-meal edibles. In the 1970s， an age of economic shortages， broad beans were the best thing for us. My mother， a teacher who knows how to cook， has recipes for preparing broad beans in sand or in hot edible oil. I remember being awed by her brief lectures on the way she prepares such delicious snack food.

Deep-fried broad beans are a most time-consuming delicacy. My father likes it best. Naturally my mother gives me a detailed lecture on how to deep-fry broad beans. Dehydrated broad beans must be steeped in water until they become so soft that one can use a kitchen knife to give each bean a cut. The cut must not be too deep or too shallow. The cut must be about two-thirds into a bean so that after deep fried， the husk can be easily removed. When deep fried， broad beans can， due to the cut， open like flowers. That is why deep-fried broad beans are called “orchid beans” in Shaoxing. The deep-fried broad beans my mother prepares are delicious and crispy. A bowl of deep-fried broad beans is a must at our family reunion dinner on the eve of the Spring Festival. My father goes so far as to state that it is the broad beans that make the dinner complete.

In my teenage years， broad beans were the best between-meal edible at the time when the national economy was struggling hard for growth. Nowadays， there are all kinds of snack food. However， broad beans remain as our familys favorite， for they are part of our memories， our love for each other， our sense of happiness and togetherness.