Do you know where the “mojito” comes from?

At the origins of the mojito, there is another word of African origin: the "mojo" which means spell, legend.

It is in Cuba that this cocktail was born today so widespread and for good reason, all the ingredients necessary for its preparation are grown on the island: aguardiente (unrefined rum) or rum, sugar, lime and mint.

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Slaves and slavers dispute his Cuban origin

The authorship of this cocktail is as legendary and therefore uncertain as the dosages that require its concoction.

Slaves and slaveholders fight over its creation.

To find its first traces, we must go back to the 16th century when the privateer and slaver Francis Drake attacked the Spanish trading post in Cuba to try to recover the gold of the Aztecs.

The mission was a failure but the members of the crew would have invented a cocktail "El Draque" (the dragon), in honor of the corsair.

It is this drink that would constitute the ancestor of the mojito.

For others, the cocktail would have been created at the same time and also in Cuba but by slaves working in the sugar cane fields.

This story seems more likely since the mojito, before imposing itself on the counters of the most upscale bars, was for a long time the drink of agricultural slaves.

Some Americans, fleeing prohibition on the island of Cuba, later also claimed the paternity of the cocktail.

However, it was not until 1946 that the mojito found its definitive form in the Havana bar La Bodeguita del Medio.

The owner, who is indeed looking to make this popular cocktail a more sophisticated drink, has decided to insert sparkling water.

The bar has now become an institution where people come from all over the world to enjoy a fresh mojito.

Worn since the 1990s by Pernod Ricard's "Havanna Club" and by Baccardi, the mojito is an essential aperitif.

Now you can tell its long story!

Next week rediscover the bloody story of the bloody mary.