For me, portable snacks are golden. More than once I’ve come home starving, only to grab something bad for my blood sugar. However, if I eat a healthy snack while out, I find it much easier to make good choices when I get back to the house.

It can be tricky to pack a blood sugar friendly snack in hot weather – who wants to lug around ice packs? Warm, cut-up raw veggies aren’t appealing and low-fat cheese sticks aren’t safe to eat after being unrefrigerated for hours.

This summer,  my go-to snack will be roasted edamame. Full of protein and fiber, the tasty little beans don’t  get crushed, need no refrigeration and aren’t  messy.

I  first tried roasted edamame  a couple of months ago when it was included in a salad kit. I liked it. My husband, who is very cautious about trying new foods, ate every piece in his salad, no questions asked.

“Crunchy …sort of nutty tasting,” he said.

While roasted edamame taste like nuts, they are actually immature soybeans. Somehow, roasting the beans transforms them into a crunchy, nutlike snack with a mild flavor.

Roasted edamame is available in many grocery stores or can be ordered through Amazon.  The brand I found, Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame, comes in both sea salt and wasabi flavors. The latter is very similar to wasabi peas, minus the unhealthy palm oil.

I buy Seapoint roasted edamame in 4 oz. packages, then portion it out into tiny bags. I tuck a bag into my purse and am good to go.

A 1/3 cup serving of Seapoint Farms roasted edamame contains 130 calories, 14 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, 9 grams of carb and only 1 gram of sugar.  Sodium is reasonable; at 140 mg a serving, it’s about 6% of the recommended daily maximum for adults. Seapoint Farms roasted edamame is kosher, vegan and gluten free; different brands may vary a bit  in nutrition.

A four ounce package costs around $2.50; figure about three servings. Seapoint Farms roasted edamame is also available in other size packages. It’s inexpensive, so it’s definitely worth a try.

A public service message from my dentist: To  protect teeth, avoid vigorously chomping down on roasted edamame.

Enjoy healthy summer snacks!