Artigenda
Mojito Day
When: annually, July 11.
There was a time when people drank mojitos as medicine. Maybe some people still do, but that is not entirely certain. What is certain: 11 July is Mojito Day (Mojito Day). Time to dwell on this alcoholic drink.
A simple recipe
Het recept is simpel: rum, limoensap, munt, rietsuiker, bubbeltjeswater en ijs. De herkomst van de cocktail is Cuba. Dat is allemaal bekend. Over de exacte herkomst is minder bekend. Mogelijk is het een afgeleide van mojosaus.
Mojo sauce
It is the sauce of the Canary Islands and comes in two flavours: the red mojo (mojo rojo) and the green mojo (mojo verde). That is, a spicy and a very spicy version. The ingredients just don’t match what goes into a mojito. In the mojo, rodo go paprika, oil, garlic, chilli, cumin, vinegar and spices. In the mojo verde goes coriander or parsley in addition. Because lemon is sometimes added, it could be that the mojito could be inspired by the mojo sauce, only it would be the name. Not the composition, in other words.
It is more logical to assume that it is simply a corruption of the word mojado. If you translate that into Dutch, it means wet. You can read that, for example, on this page. On that page, you can also read that none other than Francis Drake (1540 – 28 January 1596), explorer, politician, vice admiral and basically just a common corsair (privateer) was given a nickname in the form of el Draque. A first name for the mojito in the nineteenth century. There is no reason to believe that Drake himself would ever have drunk the mojito. Although it is not inconceivable for people from Western Europe. Rum was often just a little too much of a good thing for those persons, so they mixed the rum with other ingredients.
Bodeguita del medio
It’s a fun story. Ernest Hemingway (21 July 1899 – 2 July 1961) is said to have been so fond of the mojito (and the daiquiri, another cocktail) that he left the text “My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita” on the wall of the bar Bodeguita del medio. The text was signed by him. Apparently, he had a preference for his favourite cocktails. This fits right in with Bodeguita del medio’s claim to be the birthplace of the mojito.
There is only one drawback. It looks like it is not Hemmingway’s signature.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Comparing the two signatures, you will notice that the letters G and Y look different. In addition, the line continues, while this is not the case in the lower image, Hemingway’s actual signature.
That is not the only thing that may be questioned. To this day, the bar claims to be the birthplace of the mojito. The bar opened its doors in 1942. The first recipe, according to its page “The History of the Mojito” dates back to 1931. On this website a different year is mentioned with a specific mention of the word mojito, namely 1940. With a reference to Francis Drake, though.
Sloppy Joe's Bar
Prohibition in the United States (1919 – 1933) caused Americans to become creative in circumventing it. Thus, the illicit liquor trade flourished. Famous, of course, is the empire of Alphonse “Al” Capone (17 January 1899 – 25 January 1947), who grew into one of the most notorious gangsters among other prohibitionists. That was not the only thing in which Americans got creative. People travelled abroad because they could just keep drinking there. In Cuba, for instance. One famous bar was Sloppy Joe’s Bar. Do not confuse this bar with the bar in Key West, Florida, of the same name. This bar was opened only in 1937. The bar in Havana of the same name, Sloppy Joe’s Bar, often abbreviated as Sloppy Joe, opened its doors much earlier.
The first owner was José Abeal, who emigrated to Cuba from Spain in 1904. He first went to work as a bartender in the city, before moving to New Orleans. There, too, he worked as a bartender, before moving to Miami. In 1918, he returned to Havana and took a job in a café. After six months, he decided to take the plunge and start his own business. He bought a building that had previously housed a grocery shop and wanted to start something else in it. Something more akin to a café or bar.
Website as a reminder
The name José Garcia is remarkably mentioned on the website commemorating the restaurant. The old descriptions use the entry José Abeal. The description is the same. That he was the original Sloppy Joe for the Americans who visited him had everything to do with the speciality he was known for. That was a sandwich he made called the ropa vieja. The conditions of the premises and that sandwich together created the nickname. Now the conditions were not exactly clean, it was dirty.
One such customer mentioned: Ernest Hemingway. Together with his friend Joe Russell (1889 – 1941), the later owner of Sloppy Joe’s in Key West, he visited Sloppy Joe’s (i.e. the original Sloppy Joe’s) regularly. In doing so, he found the inspiration for his own Sloppy Joe’s, which he opened in 1937.
After the Cuban Revolution, Sloppy Joe’s was closed in 1959. In 2013, the bar reopened after 48 years, as you can read here.
'Written evidence'
What does this have to do with the mojito? Very much so! If you want to find ‘written evidence’ for an old mention of the mojito showing that Bodeguita del medio is not the birthplace of the mojito, it can be found. This proof can be found here. It is the 1932 Sloppy Joe’s Cocktails Manual. In it, by the way, you can read what the owner’s original name is: Jose Abeal Y Otero. Then that mystery is solved too.
That is not to say, by the way, that Sloppy Joe’s was also responsible for introducing the mojito. Several cocktails appear in the cocktail guide. You will see that Bacardi rum is used. Logical, as this rum plays an important role in the island’s history. There is a chance that the origin of the name can be traced back to Bacardi. You can read more about this, for instance, in this article.
What is clear: the name was once associated with Francis Drake in the form of El Draque. Apparently, that was not done or they did not think it was a good name. Therefore, they chose another name. Whether this was simply due to a corruption of the word nat or whether there was some other idea behind it, is not entirely clear to date. What is clear is that 11 July is Mojito Day.
