"I give here the recipe for the sizzling fire water. But I fear that our young girls, with their precociously galvanized palates, may find you a little tame...
'Take a half a glass of good strong eau-de-vie (brandy), with a small teaspoon of finely powdered red Cayenne pepper, and six small spoonfuls of white cane sugar. Mix all together until the sugar is properly dissolved and leave to stand for four or five hours. Then one begins to take two teaspoonfulls of this medicine every hour from the time the fever sets in until one has drunk the lot. Before taking this medicine it is necessary to shake it up each time.'
What do I think of it? I'm waiting to have the fevers. Up to now I have only had the fever. I am also waiting til I possess all at one time cane sugar, good brandy, and Cayenne pepper which has lost none of its potency. I accord this last more credit than the spirit. The spirit is an article of faith. But the pepper, the genuine pepper, the lively fire, salutary for the kidneys, trust yourself to it without fear."
(from Colette, Recollections, 199)
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