Don’t mistake Moro Soup for a typical home remedy. This unique carrot soup can be made with very few ingredients and definitely does not require a prescription. Unlike with other home remedies however, effectiveness against diarrhoea has been proven.
Why is it called Moro soup?
Professor Dr Moro was an Austrian physician and paediatrician. He is among others famous for the infant reflex which is named after him: the Moro reflex. In 1911 he was the head of the children’s hospital Luisenheilanstalt in Heidelberg.
Back in those days, a lot of children in Germany died from diarrhoea and related complications. Dr Moro experimented with different remedies (eg light and fresh air) as well as diets to help these children. One of these experiments was his now famous carrot soup. The recipe was based on old home recipes. After feeding this carrot soup to the children, he saw their mortality rate dropping by close to 50% . Many children are owing their lives to this simple carrot soup.
Due to the soup being originally named in German, there are a number of names this soup goes by nowadays: Moro Suppe, Moro Soup, Moro’s Soup, Moro’s carrot soup, Professor Moro’s Carrot Soup, Morosche Suppe, Morosche Karottensuppe and of course they are all the same.
Recipe for Moro’s Carrot Soup
Even for beginner’s in the kitchen, this recipe should be a breeze.
Ingredients
- Water (1 -1.5l)
- ~600g fresh carrots (we prefer organic)
- 3g table salt (about 3/4 teaspoon)
Utensils
- vegetable peeler
- pot to cook the soup
- something to weigh the carrots
- something to measure the amount of water
- blender/ immersion blender / sieve (a colander, fork and extra manual labour also works)
Preparation
- Wash and peel the carrots
- Top and tail the carrots
- Chop the carrots into small dice or chunks
- Add 500g of these prepped carrots and 1litre of water into the pot
- Bring water to the boil then set timer
- Boil for at least 90 minutes! (this is the most important part, do not skip or shorten this step, see below)
- Separate water and carrots but keep the water
- Puree the carrots either with a blender or by pressing through a sieve or, if all that is not possible mash up with a fork
- Mix the carrot puree with the water and measure the total amount of soup you then have
- Top up your soup with boiled water so that the soup is in total 1litre of fluid
- Add 3g of salt to your soup and serve.
Enjoy and we wish you a speedy recovery!
Variations to the original recipe
You may wish to enhance the flavour or simply make it a more nutritious meal. You may want to add meat or use broth instead of water to boil the soup with. We also combine the Chinese medicinal knowledge and add ginger when we cook the carrots (but take the pieces out before we puree the carrot). We recommend not to add too many (if any) spices as you will not want to upset your stomach.
What makes this soup work better than other home remedies?
Everyone will have heard the advice to consume soup to “get better” and there is no doubt that most soups will provide a warm feeling and are easy on the stomach, helping at least somewhat in the recovery after stomach bugs and diarrhoea.
In the year 2000, after 20 years of studies, a team of researchers found the scientific explanation for the effectiveness of Moro soup in the fight against diarrhoea. What makes Moro Soup work so well in actually stopping and treating diarrhoea is the cooking time. The extra long cooking process leads to the creation of special sugar molecules, the so called oligogalacturonic acids. These are not present in raw or short term cooked carrots.
The presence of bacteria and viruses like Escherichia coli in our body will affect us, after they could adhere to the intestine. Once docked on, they spread the substances that what makes us ill. At which point we tend to take antibiotics to fight them off.
Oligogalacturonic acids appear so similar to the receptors of the intestinal epithelium, that the pathogens dock onto these molecules instead and end up being excreted before they can do further harm.
How to consume Moro Soup? What is the dosage?
Eat small portions from the moment you start having diarrhoea.
The soup definitely is a gentle diet but see it more as a medication than food. If you feel like eating, you can definitely eat all the bland foods as listed here alongside having Moro Soup: What to eat when you have diarrhoea . It is recommend to eat small portions of soup about half an hour before meals.
You may combine with other home remedies if you wish.
How long can you keep Professor Moro’s carrot soup after cooking?
We tend to cook a big pot (all ingredients x 3) to have enough for the family. Whatever is not eaten after 3 days we freeze in small portions. This also means that we have some handy when the next stomach bug comes around and gives us time to shop for carrots.
Is Moro Soup safe for pets?
Just like humans, both cats and dogs can be treated with this special soup.
You should feed a dog 30ml of soup per kg of bodyweight a day, meaning a 10kg pooch should have 300ml of soup per day. Please speak to your vet.
Ensure that the soup is cooled down before feeding it to your pets. Consider adding chicken to the soup in the last 30 minutes of cooking to increase acceptance. Especially when batch cooking for the whole family, remember that not all herbs used for human cooking are healthy for your pets. Hence, it is best to leave the soup plain when freezing/ portioning and only add flavours for the humans as and when they eat it.
What are the known health benefits of Moro Soup?
Especially in light of a comparison to antibiotics, we know that…
🥣Carrot soup does not create resistant bacteria
🥣Eating this soup also does not negatively affect the intestinal flora
🥣There are no side effects
🥣It can be used with other home remedies as well as standard medications
🥣It can reduce the length of diarrhoea in kids from 4-7 days down to 28h
🥣Often also helps against diarrhoea which is caused by IBD/IBS (no you know why I trust it so much! Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases can not be helped by antibiotics.)
🥣Even patients suffering under Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, where antibiotics make no sense, can be helped if they have a regular intake of portions of Moro soup.
Why are the health benefits not known more widely?
For many years after it’s inception, this soup was the main treatment for diarrhoea. This changed with the invention of antibiotics and antidiarrheals in the 1940s. Whether the wish for convenience of the people or the greed of big pharma played a bigger role – we will never know. The soup has regained interest in the past years but mainly among veterinary practices.
Although I am personally recommending the soup to anyone suffering from diarrhoea, it possibly has the stigma of being “just” a home remedy, “just a soup”. The lack of wider information and studies in the english language might also contribute. As a German speaker I find it helpful to be able to read the published articles.
Summary
As I personally suffer under IBS and we have IBD in the family, the topic of diarrhoea sadly comes up more often than we would like. I have written an article about episodes of diarrhoea while travelling and how we prepared for our journey around the world. One thing I realised while writing that article, is that I miss having a freezer with Moro soup portions at the ready. We did make some in Morocco and it helped. So far we have been able to locate carrots everywhere although the ones in Malaysia seem to be imported from Australia of all places – not that it matters…
Bookmark this article so that you can find it easily whenever you, your kids or pets will struggle with diarrhoea next.
Just remember that it is important to boil the carrots for at least 90 minutes.
For question or feedback please use the comment section below. Have you made a pot of Moro soup yet? Did you like it?
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