Mojito local tropical ingredients: lime, sugarcane juice, and mint. Lime juice on its own would have significantly prevented scurvy and dysentery, and tafia/rum was soon added as it became widely available to the British (ca. 1650). Mint, lime and sugar were also helpful in hiding the harsh taste of this spirit. While this drink was not called a Mojito at this time, it was the original combination of these ingredients. Some historians contend that African slaves who worked in the Cuban sugar cane fields during the 19th century were instrumental in the cocktail's origin. Guarapo, the sugar cane juice often used
Cuban sugar economy was able to exchange one ton of sugar for 4.5 tons of Soviet oil, in 1992 it received only 1.8 tons of Russian oil per ton of sugar. The US embargo further hampered the Cuban economy by restricting the imports of fertilizers, fuel, and replacement parts for aging machinery. Between 1991 and 1993, sugar production decreased from 7.1 million tons to 4.4 million tons as milling efficiency and crop yield declined. By 2007, annual sugar production had decreased to 1.2 million tons. In 2015, raw sugar accounted for $378 million of Cuba's $1.4 billion exports. Cuban sugar economy The Cuban