“糖鄉”義烏的糖佳話

正是義烏制糖季節

冬令時節我們來到“糖蔗之鄉”浙江義烏的義亭鎮西樓村，遠遠就聞到一陣陣濃郁的糖香，空氣里也仿佛彌漫著甜味。走到村口，見停著一排排小車，原來這是城里的許多上班族利用周末休息的時間，專程來到這里品嘗和購買紅糖，看來這個村的糖生意做得蠻紅火呢!

在西樓村的榨糖車間里，榨糖機晝夜不停地運轉著，熬糖的大鍋里熱氣蒸騰，好客的糖農更是慷慨熱情地招呼客人免費品嘗他們的紅糖食品。三位城里姑娘一邊品著剛出鍋的紅糖，一邊要主人滾個“糖勾”給她們看看。當眾人品嘗了香甜味美的糖汁麻花后，便爭相購買各種糖食，每人手里全都拎著一袋又一袋糖勾和麻花歡天喜地而去。

賈惟承首創燕里紅糖

義烏是個古老的產糖區，早在明朝末年就開始種甘蔗榨糖，至今已有400多年的歷史，是浙江最大的產糖縣。據義烏《洋川賈氏燕里村譜》記載：其第五代傳人賈惟承于順治年間在燕里村的黃沙、紅泥土地上，從福建引進種植糖蔗的技術，制成義烏紅糖。它憑著“擺在桌上會爬，放入口中會烊，含到嘴里清香，存放三年不爛”的過硬質量，名聲大噪，成了當時市場上的搶手貨。到了第十三代傳人賈禎淑手里，這位清末秀才更是注重收集和整理糖蔗種植和紅糖制作的技巧和“鄉土文化”，為提升燕里紅糖的社會價值和聲譽作出了貢獻。1929年在杭州西博會上，義烏一家商會選送的“義烏青”糖榮獲了特別獎，這使義烏紅糖名聲大振，銷路大開。據當地老糖農介紹：由于義烏紅糖選用“青皮糖梗”為原料，熬榨的紅糖色澤略呈青灰色，于是人們就稱它為“義烏青”。“義烏青”雖然不像白糖那樣潔白，也不如冰糖那樣晶瑩，卻甜得自然，香得純正，并且有益氣養血、健脾暖胃、驅風散寒、活血化瘀的功能，因而深得城鄉居民的喜愛，成了人們日常生活中不可缺少的食品和實惠的禮品，成了義烏的“三寶”之一。

從“雞毛換糖”走向規模經營

義烏過去因人稠地薄，光靠種田吃不飽飯，許多農民平日便遠走他鄉做“雞毛換糖”小買賣，每到農閑季節，義烏人就肩挑“貨郎擔”，手搖“撥浪鼓”，走村串鄉，風餐露宿，以紅糖換取各家各戶的雞毛和廢品。用紅糖做成的“派皮糖”是老百姓尤其是小孩最愛吃的零食，故每當義烏人“撥浪鼓”響起，老百姓就會迅速圍上來，用自家的雞毛、鵝毛或廢銅爛鐵等換糖吃，這就是義烏人往昔的“雞毛換糖”情景，此后世代相傳，形成規模。

改革開放以后，敢為人先的義烏人率先在家門口辦起了集貿市場，原先挑“貨郎擔”的義烏人，有了自己的固定攤位后，生意做得如魚得水，他們很快完成了原始積累。于是有的開辦了小商品加工企業，有的還把小商品生意做到了省外和國外，市場越做越大，一度還成了享譽全球的“華夏第一市”。

義烏小商品市場繁榮，糖業也不錯。原先在小商品城做副食品批發生意的陳洪見、陳號玲夫婦，他們承傳義烏紅糖加工的傳統工藝，以科學配方和現代技術制作姜糖、姜湯等休閑食品，由于地方特色濃郁，產品一投入市場就受到消費者青睞。常駐義烏采購小商品的馬來西亞客商在賓王市場洪太公司門市部品嘗了姜糖和姜湯后，當即就下單訂貨。

如今，該公司采用現代技術，又對紅糖進行深加工，提高了附加值，先后研制開發了洪太姜湯、洪太姜糖、洪太姜片、洪太紅糖四大系列100多個品種，使這一傳統特產重放異彩，產品不但暢銷東北三省、陜西、上海、福建、湖南、新疆等20多個省市自治區，還遠銷日本、韓國、新加坡、馬來西亞、香港等國家和地區。為進一步滿足客戶的要求，洪太公司還在義烏及周邊縣市建立了3500畝無公害紅糖、生姜生產基地，傳統的義烏紅糖也和小商品一樣，今日已漂洋過海，享譽全球。

弘揚紅糖文化做大紅糖產業

如今，昔日的“雞毛換糖”貨郎擔已被當作見證義烏商業發展的文物而擺在博物館供人瀏覽，義烏鬧市區還建立了“貨郎擔”雕塑。為弘揚紅糖文化，振興紅糖產業，今年開始，義烏市還把傳統的紅糖業與旅游業有機地結合在一起，開展以參觀榨糖工藝了解“雞毛換糖”歷史以及品嘗紅糖產品等為內容的農家游，確定每年的11月18日為義烏紅糖節，以推進義烏紅糖產業的發展壯大，增加糖農收入，進一步弘揚紅糖文化，目的是使全國各地客商以及外商都知道，義烏不僅有小商品大市場，也有極具地方特色的紅糖農產品。

義烏還在義亭鎮西樓村專門建立了榨糖歷史陳列館。一位游客帶著自己的孩子看“老牛拖舊機榨糖”的模型時說：“義烏小商品市場有今天的輝煌，就是靠勤勞智慧的義烏人民用‘雞毛換糖’起步的。今天我帶兒子到這里參觀，就是想讓下一代了解義烏艱苦創業的歷史。”一位糖師傅說，這幾天來西樓村的客人特別多，比過年還熱鬧。有一天竟有500多人來吃紅糖買紅糖，有次城里人還開了十幾輛小車組成一個龐大的“購物團”來這里買糖麻花呢!

Bittersweet Memory of the Land of Sugar

By Zhang Jiancheng， Chen Xiguang

The art of brown sugar producing in Yiwu， a traditional farming area in central Zhejiang， dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Farmers there began to make brown sugar from cane in the last years of the Ming Dynasty. Today， the county is still the largest sugar producer in the province.

All this began with Jia Weicheng， a farmer who lived more than 400 years ago in Yanli village. Jia introduced the sugar cane cultivation technology from Fujian Province to the sandy red soil field in his village and made brown sugar out of them. The sugar soon became popular with local residents and sold like hot cakes on market. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)， his great great grandson Jia Zhenshu improved cane planting and sugar making techniques and made the specialty more popular. In 1929， a chamber of commerce from Yiwu displayed brown sugar at the first West Lake Expo in Hangzhou and won a special prize. It became a popular food and holiday gift among local residents.

Brown sugar became popular outside Yiwu when vendors from Yiwu visited every corner of the province. As Yiwu was a populous area with insufficient farming land， people there in the past had to find ways to make ends meet. One of the ways was to barter chicken feather and scraps with brown sugar and candy made of it in slack season. For a long while in the province， the rattle-drum was a hallmark of vendors from Yiwu.

When the reform and opening-up policies were enforced in the late 1970s， the wandering vendor tradition evolved into prosperous markets in Yiwu. Today， the marketplace in Yiwu has become the largest of its kind in China. The brown sugar production has been industrialized.

Chen Hongjian and Chen Haoling， a couple who once did wholesale business in a food market in Yiwu， founded Hongtai Company and now do flourishing brown sugar business.

Their first product was ginger candies and ginger decoction. Now the company markets more than 100 products in 4 product lines in more than 20 provinces and municipalities across China and in countries and regions such as Japan， Korea， Singapore， Hong Kong and Malaysia. The company also runs large sugar cane and ginger farms in Yiwu and neighboring counties to provide raw materials.

Today， the brown sugar vendor's traveling utensils are on display in a local museum on the business history. The downtown Yiwu also conspicuously features a statue of a traveling vendor.The local government has designated November 18 as the Day of Brown Sugar in Yiwu. Travel operators in the city have developed tours to promote the local brown sugar industry.

Brown sugar food is still made manually in rural Yiwu. The winter is the peak season for villagers to make brown-sugared fried dough twists， and display their workshops and products to tourists from urban areas. Xilou village in Yiwu is just such a great attraction. A brown-sugar craftsman told us with pride: “one day， nearly 500 tourists came to our village and bought our brown sugar!”And just another day， villagers were amazed to see more than 10 cars come to the village. It turned out that the visitors were all nostalgic of the brown-sugar and drove a long way just to buy the fried dough twists.

(Translated by David)