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
Sidecar (cocktail) base rather than rum, and with Cointreau as the sweetening agent rather than sugar syrup. He recommends the same proportions (8:2:1) for both, making a much-less-sweet sidecar. However, Simon Difford, in his book "Encyclopedia of Cocktails", notes Harry Craddock's ratio of 2:1:1 in "The Savoy Cocktail Book", and then suggests a middle ground between Craddock's recipe and the "French School" equal parts recipe of 3:2:2, calling Embury's daiquiri formula "overly dry" for a sidecar. The earliest mention of sugaring the rim on a sidecar glass is 1934, in three books: Burke's "Complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes", Gordon's "Cocktail & Food