Soy leghemoglobin is short for legume hemoglobin -- the hemoglobin found in soy, a leguminous plant. Leghemoglobin is a protein found in plants that carries heme, an iron-containing molecule that is essential for life. Heme is found in every living being -- both plants and animals. (Heme in animals is carried by "hemoglobin" and “myoglobin” among other proteins.)
Although heme has been consumed every day for hundreds of thousands of years, Impossible Foods discovered that it’s what makes some meat taste so meaty. We make heme using a yeast genetically engineered with the gene for soy leghemoglobin, which is derived from soy plants.
Learn more about how we make heme here.
Want to learn more about our ingredients? Check out our Nutrition Hub.