Can your surplus garden produce during the summer, and you can enjoy high quality food all winter. There's a great advantage to canning food from your own back yard: You will always get the best flavor and highest quality from picking food at its freshest, and processing it the same day.

To begin canning at home, the two main tools you will need are a water bath canner and a pressure canner. Canner selection depends on the type of food you are preserving. Although bacteria won't survive in high-acid foods such as fruits and tomatoes, they can thrive in low-acid foods including vegetables and meats. For low-acid foods, it's necessary to use a pressure canner, which reaches temperatures higher than the boiling point. Acidic foods, including most fruits, are processed in a boiling water bath. To avoid contaminating food with bacteria, always follow any canning recipe exactly, and be particularly cautious with low-acid foods.

Water bath canners are available for $20 to $30, while a good pressure canner can cost as much as $200. Both should come with a rack to keep jars off the bottom of the pot. Every canning book or instruction manual comes with charts detailing common foods and their respective canning methods, and also typically includes step-by-step instructions for the entire canning process. Local Extension offices often have free pamphlets explaining how to can dozens of different fruits and vegetables.