What are Spud Spikes® Food-Grade Stainless Steel Baking Potato Nails?
What are Spud Spikes® Food-Grade Stainless Steel Baking Potato Nails?Quite simply, Spud Spikes are 6″ long No. 316 food-grade stainless steel nails and they are the original stainless steel potato nails that are made in the USA!
What should I do with Spud Spikes?
Insert them into your potatoes before baking to conduct oven heat into the center of your potato. Because Spud Spikes speed up baking time, they save you money on your utility bills.
Can I use Spud Spikes for other foods?
Yes, insert Spud Spikes into sweet potatoes or apples before baking and enjoy delicious baked vegetables and fruit. You can even insert them into meat to cut roasting time. Spud Spikes are based on such a simple concept—and they work so well!
Why use Spud Spikes?
Because Spud Spikes conduct oven heat into the center of your food, they speed up baking time. The less time your oven runs, the more you save on your utility bills! Enjoy delicious baked and roasted foods, not microwaved substitutes.
Will Spud Spikes save time?
Yes, Spud Spikes cut baking time almost in half so you can prepare oven-baked potatoes and roasted meat after you get home from work. While your potatoes bake, you’ll have time to set your table, open a bottle of wine, and prepare the rest of your meal.
Why prick the potato skin before baking?
Good question! I’ve always heard you should prick the skin in several places so the potato doesn’t explode in the oven. This may be just an old wives’ tale, but I think it’s a “can’t hurt and might help” kind of thing. It doesn’t hurt the potato and only takes a few seconds to prick the skin with the point of the Spud Spike. I recommend you do it—it may save you from a big cleanup!
I can buy aluminum nails cheaper in my local stores, so why would I want to buy Spud Spikes?
That’s easy—food-grade Spud Spikes are made of 100% stainless steel, a safe heat conductor. Unlike aluminum nails, they won’t leave unattractive and unappetizing dark marks in the potato. Also Spud Spikes have the structural strength to pierce a potato; aluminum nails have the potential to bend.
However, the main reason to use stainless steel potato nails over aluminum potato nails is because they are safer to your health. Exposure to aluminum has raised some health concerns, and studies indicate that a small amount of aluminum leaches into food products cooked in aluminum cookware, bakeware, or foil. I recommend that you go to Page 2 of “Get the facts on baking a potato—and then some!” by Leon A. Frechette and click on the three links provided on that page. They will take you to some interesting reading so you can reach your own conclusions on the subject of aluminum.
Aluminum may be a better heat conductor than stainless steel, but aluminum baking nails are too short to be effective and may dry out the potato. As you can see in the photo, the 3 nails left of the 6-inch Spud Spikes are aluminum nails currently sold on the market as potato nails. These aluminum nails are all much too short—3 1/2 inches to 4 1/2 inches—to effectively assist in baking potatoes.
The bottom line, though, is that aluminum nails are not safe to use. There are many aluminum potato nails on the market and, quite frankly, they are a dime a dozen and manufactured overseas. There is only one 100% stainless steel potato nail on the market: Spud Spikes, and they are manufactured in the USA. They are more costly to manufacture, but rest assured they’re safer to your health over aluminum when inserted in potatoes or brats!
Order your own set of Spud Spikes Potato Nails, The Original Food-Grade Stainless Steel Baking Potato Nails and Spud Spikes Gourmet Potato Skin Rubs and Everyday Seasonings—Pepper, Original Blend, and Garlic today!