CHILLI WINE

Six cupfuls white sugar, eight cupfuls water, one ounce chillies

From 1922:

Six cupfuls white sugar, eight cupfuls water, one ounce chillies. Boil well for 20 minutes then add 1 ½ dessertspoonfuls tartaric acid and two dessertspoonfuls cream of tartar. Then boil for another five or ten minutes, and stand off the fire; add one bottle essence of lemon. When cold, strain and bottle.