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 market or grow its annual production level past five million tons. Due to its historical dependence on sugar, the Cuban economy was tied to external markets and price fluctuations. Moreover, the United States remained the major source of capital and technology. After the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro's government sought to end the mono-production of sugar and shift the Cuban economy towards self-reliance through industrialization and economic diversification. However, the industrialization effort failed while sugar production decreased and Cuba was forced to return to sugar production. Cuba's sugar production suffered greatly at the outset of the industrialization drive in 1962. The