the famous drink that is attributed to an English sailor to prevent an illness

2024-02-29 16:17:18

The English navigator Francis Drake would have invented the Cuban mojito to calm an outbreak of scurvy that his sailors suffered. Today it is the second most popular drink in the world

The English navigator Francis Drake would have created the mojito to serve the crew of his ship, according to a legend that not everyone shares (Photo: Reuters/Paul Childs).

The English owe Sir Francis Drake for defending their territory against a Spanish invasion in 1588, but the entire world is apparently indebted to him for the creation of the Cuban Mojito cocktail. The discovery had been made in the 16th century during an expedition to the New World.when the navigator wanted to attend to a health epidemic that spread among his sailors.

The most popular version – which some historians dismiss due to lack of evidence – says that Drake landed on the island of Cuba during an interoceanic voyage. The crew of his ship faced scurvya common illness in sailors of the time who presented symptoms of fatigue and weakness after long periods at sea.

It was a drink that Drake prepared which would have put an end to the illness of its sailors Your formula? Apparently it was a mixture of tafia (a cane liquor produced in a rudimentary way prior to rum), lime, mint and Chuchuhuasi bark. The latter is a plant (Maytenus macrocarpa) that indigenous communities used for medicinal purposes for its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and immune system-stimulating properties.

The Cuban mojito was the second most popular cocktail in the world, according to a Bacardi survey.

The English sailor’s recipe is very similar to the one prepared today in thousands of bars around the world. Along with the evolution of tafia – now professionally distilled white rum – lemon, white sugar, fresh mint and soda are added.. Perhaps the current version does not remove any illness, but it surely kills some spite.

From James Bond to Hemingway

The mojito was the second most popular cocktail in the world during 2023according to the annual Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report consumer survey published by Visual Capital. It is located only behind the classic Gin & Tonic, which expands its advantage in Europe, the United States and Japan. In Germany, for example, the Cuban cocktail was already one of the 10 most consumed drinks in that country in 2014, he recalls. Statesman.

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Around the American writer Ernest Hemingway (“The Old Man and the Sea,” among other works) there is also a legend. It is said that, a frequent visitor to Cuban bars, he would have repeatedly said the phrase “my mojito at Bodeguita… my daiquiri at Floridita.”

There is no certainty that the phrase is from Hemingway, but it is from his love for Cuba and his stays in La Bodeguita del Medio. It is an emblematic bar in Havana that became famous for its mojito preparation, especially in the 1920s when Americans began traveling to the island to escape Prohibition which prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the country.

The truth is that even the secret agent James Bond is a Mojito lover, a scene from “Die Another Day” in 2002 immortalized his love for this drink. Also the actors Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, during the movie “Collateral” in 2004, order this cocktail in a scene where they visit a nightclub.