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 took over the defaulting Cuban sugar producers. Additionally, many large US sugar companies operating in Cuba were vertically integrated with their own processing industries in the United States. This allowed US companies to access US markets directly at low costs, which harmed many Cuban companies. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930 further impacted Cuban producers by implementing protectionist trade policies that restricted exports to the United States. This influenced the economic crisis that contributed to the Cuban Revolution of 1933. Cuban sugar producers were able to protect the national production after the Revolution, but Cuba did not reenter the US