LOL

I find that clay marbles don't hold up to processing heat and you just end up with muddy water. Neither do most plastic buttons.

But glass marbles can be boiled, loaded hot into the jars, fill the jars with boiling water leaving 1" headspace, and process for 20 min in BWB. For best appearance be sure to uniformly mix the different colors in the jars. ;-)

Dave

I'd be concerned that all that heat might crack the older marbles. I know that hot-water bath canning isn't normally recommended, but this might be the time to put the glass marbles in the jar, pour on hot water, and seal.

I agree that canning the clay marbles isn't a good idea.

Ah, guess I was unclear on those clay marbles. They are fired clay, so pottery marbles / ceramic marbles. Those definitely should be able to take the heat.

I figured I couldn't raw-pack the glass, but what would you think about pre-frying the glass marbles?

Fried Marbles

I don't get this entire thread. Why would you want to can marbles?

Matthias probably doesn't want to lose his marbles, so canning them up might help prevent that.

Matthias- Those clay marbles might be able to take the heat but I don't think they could stand up to the liquid. Over time they might turn to mush. But if they do keep their shape then you could probably dry them out again after opening up a jar. I would probably just dry can them instead.

Rodney

Laceyvail, antique stores have been placing mason jars full of marbles on every twentieth-or-so shelf and table. I've been seeing this for around five years. Price: $8-12. More if the jar is blue (antique or new!) or has a zinc lid. It just makes me roll my eyes.

Then, in antiques malls some sellers began getting more creative by filling the mason jars with buttons, small wood spools, green plastic toy soldiers, wood clothes pins, tiny balls of embroidery thread, jacks and red rubber balls, etc.--- what ever they might think represent days gone by.

So, uh, canning marbles properly by USDA guidelines is just a joke.

And one I have enjoyed very much.

As much as I fully realize this is a joke about antique stores and jars of marbles.. I see them too and kind of giggle. And for some odd childhood reason, I always want them- never buy them though, forget that.
But then I thought about it for a minute- when I was a kid, my gma had a couple friends that had jars of marbles in the kitchen- they used the marbles for pie weights that looked pretty in the window too while they weren't using them. And they did use them regularly. Which then makes me wonder... Could a jar of marbles withstand a water bath canning? Like if I was a jar or two short in my kettle, could I use a jar of marbles as a jar space/weight to take up the rest of the space properly? Glass of course :)

And I've never heard of fried marbles before, I must try that, looks
fun. And I do have some marbles sitting around. With all this snow, getting an ice bath is no problem, lol. Does that work with the flatter glass florist and decor stones too?

Beesneeds, yes there really is something very satisfying about a whole, closed jar of anything, as though it makes one wisely kitted out, ready for what comes! I just use spoons for pie weights, though. Ha-ha.

The Fried Marbles book that I linked above the photo was one I bought at school through Scholastic books when I was in sixth grade, if I remember correctly. Mine would have had to have been an earlier edition than the one on Amazon. I also remember the shrunken apple puppet heads in the book.

You could just use a jar of water without a lid even on it to make your other jars stand up in the canner.

I'm not sure I would care for Fried Marbles... altho' I do know a few people whose 'marbles' are definitely 'fried'.