天臺觀音凍

錢天柱

浙江臺州西北山區(qū)有一種美食叫觀音凍，天臺、仙居、三門等地山民皆擅長料理此物。這次天臺的陳舟寶先生攜妻女來椒江，特地為我示范制作了觀音凍。因有緣親歷天臺人陳舟寶夫婦美食制作的全過程并第一時間品嘗到它的美味，所以觀音凍雖不是天臺一地獨有，我也姑且稱之為天臺觀音凍。

一

觀音凍又叫觀音豆腐。雖然傍上了豆腐的芳名，但里面卻沒有豆的成分，甚至也沒有任何其他糧食的成分。

觀音豆腐的形狀、彈性、柔滑感和真正的豆腐類似，色澤卻頗似翡翠，所以又叫翡翠豆腐。它是用山上一種叫柴葉的植物做成的，所以也叫柴葉豆腐或柴豆腐。這種柴葉，山里人又稱之為豆腐柴。

豆腐柴是一種直立灌木，馬鞭草科，入冬后葉落而枯，如柴。做觀音凍用的是豆腐柴葉，因此如入深秋柴葉落盡，就做不成。陳夫人告訴我，豆腐柴的葉子是一味中藥，藥名腐婢，有清熱解毒之功效，用于治療瘧疾、泄瀉、癰腫、疔瘡、丹毒，還能解蛇蟲咬傷、醉酒頭痛等各種不適。

陳夫人雖已年過半百，但著一襲深色長裙，姿態(tài)娉婷，應該是養(yǎng)生有道，難道是常吃觀音凍的緣故？

她手拿著一個紗布口袋，把洗凈的豆腐柴嫩葉往里裝。紗布袋已經被柴葉汁液無數(shù)次浸染，泛著無法褪去的草黃色——這是她從天臺帶來的專用道具。

豆腐柴葉含有大量蛋白質、纖維素、葉綠素和維生素，其蛋白質中氨基酸含量高，富含對人體有益的天然食用果膠，所以做成的美食形似天然的果凍。每年春夏，豆腐柴枝葉茂盛的時候，天臺山上的山民們就會采葉制作觀音凍，做好的觀音凍自己吃一部分，留一部分分贈城里的親友。

我是見過這種植物的，小時候在山上玩，見到都叫它“臭娘子”，不知道它還有個名字叫豆腐柴。豆腐柴漫生于山野和田間地角，也常見于山里人家的屋前屋后，五六月份會開出塔形、淡黃色的花，偶見黑色的小果。長得高的豆腐柴有一人高，莖枝纖細，圓柱形，呈淡棕色，嫩枝上披有一層柔軟的黃色短毛;葉是長卵形，邊緣有鋸齒。摸上去和普通樹葉無異，可是當你用手指一掐，就會有黏汁滲出，散發(fā)出一股濃濃的青草味。那氣味有人說臭，也有人說這是自然的清香，我姑媽說它有一種草藥的芳香。正是因為有這股味，豆腐柴雖然柔軟多汁、營養(yǎng)豐富，但食草類動物一般不喜歡去吃它。

二

傳說很久之前，華夏大地鬧起了大饑荒，路有餓殍，天臺山也未能幸免。有一天，一位大嬸好不容易討到一塊餅，就緊趕慢趕地回家，想留給家中的小兒子。途中，大嬸遇到了一位餓得奄奄一息的老人，她不忍心眼看著老人餓死，就忍痛把這塊餅遞給了他。老人吃過餅后，就能站起來蹣跚走路了。他跟著大嬸來到她家，卻看到一位餓得連哭聲都快沒了的孩子。老人大為感動，指點大嬸說，這山里有一種連牛羊都不吃的臭柴葉，你去摘一些過來，我做點東西給你家孩子吃。大嬸將信將疑地去摘回了老人所說的臭柴葉。老人要了一個盆子，拿了這些柴葉，一邊做一邊如此這般地開始講解，不到半晌的功夫，竟變戲法一樣做出一大盆閃著翡翠般光澤的膠凍，又像是一盆剛剛點鹵成型的綠色豆腐。老人把這盆膠凍切成塊，遞給大嬸和她的孩子。沒想到，這膠凍狀的豆腐不但鮮嫩滑口，吃起來滿嘴生香，幾塊落肚后，人也一下子變得神清氣爽。正當娘兒倆激動得想說感謝話時，眼前的老人已變成慈眉善目的菩薩，駕著祥云遠去了。

大嬸把制作這種食物的方法教給了周邊的鄉(xiāng)親，鄉(xiāng)親們又興奮地奔走相告，山上山下的百姓就靠著這柴葉豆腐度過了饑荒。觀音凍或觀音豆腐的名稱，便由此而來。

三

做觀音凍需要豆腐柴葉、干燥豆稈和涼白開3種材料。制作流程可分為6個步驟：第一步，將豆腐柴嫩葉洗凈備用。用活水沖洗兩遍即可，洗得過多過久，會使葉中的果膠成分流失。第二步，把瀝過水的柴葉置于盆中，用沸水沖淋均勻，使之癟軟，再冷卻10分鐘。第三步，取一口干凈的鍋，把干燥的豆稈在鍋內燒成灰，倒入少量涼白開攪拌，并用紗布袋子瀝去雜物，取豆稈灰水備用。第四步，另取一盆，倒入適量涼白開，將沸水燙癟后的柴葉裝入紗布口袋，放入這盆涼白開中使勁揉搓，柴葉中的綠色汁液逐漸從沙布眼中滲出，在水中彌漫開來，瞬間，一盆涼白開就成了一汪深潭的顏色。繼續(xù)揉搓至盆中水色不再加深、汁液出現(xiàn)濃稠的感覺后，將柴葉汁倒入另一個盆中。這邊再次倒入涼白開，繼續(xù)揉搓。如此往復3次，就可以將柴葉里的大部分果膠析出。第五步，將3次揉搓的柴葉汁水合成一盆，一邊攪拌一邊慢慢倒入豆稈灰水。豆稈灰水在這里是起著凝固劑的作用，就如同鹵水點豆腐。隨著豆稈灰水的倒入、攪動，盆中的柴葉汁以肉眼可見的速度變濃變稠。第六步，攪拌均勻后靜置5分鐘左右，用筷子輕輕刮去汁液表層的細小泡沫。再靜候一兩個小時，一盆碧綠的、晶瑩剔透的果凍，就大功告成了。

值得一提的是，觀音凍也能根據(jù)個人喜好，可做老一點亦可做嫩一些，全憑柴葉汁液的濃度和倒入豆稈灰水的量。靜置的時間越長，做出來的觀音凍就更緊實，若能放在冰箱里冷藏一會，更加Q彈。

四

時間將近中午，陽光從窗臺上漏進來，照在裝著觀音凍的盆里。盆沿上閃爍著氤氳的綠瑩瑩的仙氣，仿佛盆中有一寶物將要生成。

我仔細一看，盆中之物簡直就是一大塊未經打磨的圓形翡翠原石：墨綠色，通體晶瑩卻又似乎刻意收斂著神光，仿佛有一種綠色的寶玉蘊于其內，深藏不露。我用筷子輕輕點了一下，凍的表皮凹進去一點，又馬上彈回，恢復成原先的樣子;我又用筷子點了幾下，像風吹過的湖面，泛起一陣漣漪之后，又復歸平靜。

陳夫人說，筷子輕戳不破，就表明它已經脫胎成凍，可以吃了。她拿刀輕輕一劃，像切豆腐一樣把做好的觀音凍切成幾個等分，取中間一塊四方形的放入白色湯盤中。此時的這塊觀音凍，才展現(xiàn)出它的廬山真面目。

它靜默地立在盤中，四個切面光滑平整，仿佛是一塊渾然天成的老玉，透著一股洞悉世事的孤傲神色。四面的光射進來，觀音凍里隱約閃動著一些類似礦物微晶的東西。我不知道它們是什么，但我不在意，因為我已經被它如璞如玉的美艷震驚了。不得不再說到它的綠，因為通體暴露在光影之中，這一塊綠似乎被光稀釋了，好像有一股綠色的泉水在其中流動，有的地方深一些，有的地方淺一些。

我們把它劃成任意形狀的小塊，潔白的盆子里就鋪滿了誘人的綠玉碎珠。拿起瓷勺，把這些琳瑯的珠玉一粒一粒撥入瓷碗中，再加一點點蜂蜜，撒上點桂花，就顯得特別美麗和精致。這時候我牙根里的津液盈出，當這些溫潤的、彈動的軟珠子滑入口腔，撫慰著上顎和舌頭，感覺是何等的舒爽和愜意。

夏日里品味觀音凍，如再加點薄荷水則更佳。一勺入口，一串極富動感的Q彈涌向舌尖，仿佛一群快樂的精靈在你的口腔里推推攘攘著，爭先恐后地通過喉嚨躍入食道進入腹中。一時間，整個人似乎置身于大山深處的清涼幽谷，心曠神怡。

當然，你也完全可以把它當豆腐食用，或煎或炒，或紅燒或燉湯，又是一番農家味道?？釔鄱垢拇蟛抛釉稇摏]吃過這種柴葉做的豆腐，不然的話《隨園食單》里應該少不了得會記上“天臺柴豆腐”或者是“天臺觀音豆腐”一筆。

Guanyin Tofu in Tiantai

By Qian Tianzhu

In the northwestern mountains of Taizhou in Zhejiang， Guanyin Tofu is a favorite delicacy in the local cuisine. Its popular in Taizhou and neighboring regions. I recently enjoyed watching a friend demonstrate how to make this dish from start to end.

Some people call it Guanyin Jelly and some call it Guanyin Tofu， though it has nothing to do with soybeans or any other cereals in it. It looks like tofu after its made. It is made of a herb which local people call the tofu herb. The herb is academically known as Premna microphylla Turcz （PMT）， mainly distributed in east， central and southwest China. The roots， stems and leaves of PMT can be used as medicine for the functions of clearing away heat and detoxification， detumescence， snake bite， nameless swelling， wound bleeding， and so on. The tofu herb abounds in mountains in this part of Taizhou.

The leaves of PMT are rich in pectin， kind of a jelly substance that can be extracted from the leaves. Local people use a six-step procedure to get the pectin out of the leaves and turn the liquid into jelly-like， firm， dark green substance that can be cut into chops. No one knows exactly how someone first discovered a way to extract pectin out of PMT leaves. The procedure works this way： leaves are washed and placed into a big basin. Pour boiled water into the basin until leaves become soft as if withered. Remove hot water and let leaves cool for ten minutes. Put leaves into a gauze bag. Put the bag into a basin of water boiled and cooled. Rub and knead the leaves in the bag. Pectin comes out. When the water becomes dark green， pour the dark green water into another vessel and pour pure water boiled and cooled into the basin again. The step is repeated two more times until you have three basins of dark green water in which is liquid pectin. Then drop a coagulator extracted out of soybean stems into the water and stir the water evenly. The liquid becomes thicker. Let the liquid cure for five minutes. Skip the foams on the surface with a chopstick. Let the liquid cure for two hours. The jelly-like emerald tofu is ready.

It was an amazing experience for me to watch how pectin in the PMT leaves was extracted and turned into so-called tofu in the hands of my friend. The whole thing， not yet cut into chops， looked like a large chunk of gem in the color of dark green.

A local folktale explains how someone first learned the way to make the jelly-like tofu. As the folktale has it， once upon a time， the region was being plagued by a famine. A woman went out in search of food. She left a hungry son at home. After a long journey and hard search， she got a cake. On her way back home， she ran into an old man lying by the road， looking as if he would die of hunger any moment. After some hesitation， she fed the cake to the old man. The old man recovered. After learning that the woman had a starving boy at home， he followed the woman to her home. There he demonstrated how to make tofu out of PMT leaves and taught the woman how to do it step by step. After the woman mastered the procedure and the mother and son enjoyed the delicacy， the old man transformed into Buddha and disappeared into the sky， leaving no time for the mother and son to say thank you. The woman shared the recipe with her neighbors and the miracle method spread. The people in the region survived the famine. Just like so many folktales， this one says you lead an honest life and treat people kindly and you respect nature for food and express gratitude to deities for ways to survive.

Of course all kinds of tofu recipes can be used in cooking Guanyin Tofu. It can be fried in oil. It can be cooked in soy sauce or it can be an ingredient in a soup. In summer， the jelly-like tofu can stay in a refrigerator before it can be served in peppermint water and enjoyed.