Well you didn't follow any of the approved instructions, included oil, didn't add the required acid apparently, added garlic a low-acid ingredient, and processed them for far too short a time so there is still air trapped in the jar and cold pockets in the tomatoes. Normally what you describe would have to be pressure canned. Based on the info so far I'd have to say yes, you screwed up insofar as any guarantee of safety, sorry.

So the question is how to fix if possible. But your steps aren't clear. Are you trying to make sauce or can tomatoes? Two different processes with very different instructions. Clarify exactly what you are trying to make and one of us can hopefully tell you how to fix it.

Otherwise all you can do is freeze it ASAP.

Dave

PS: and yes, they definitely have to boil in the jars

I'm making a sauce (the tomatoes are pureed)... OMG-so many hours ! I followed the steps from an Italian friend and obviously I should have looked at steps online. THANK YOU for your help !

Then you can freeze it and that is what the guidelines would recommend you do with it. You have altered the pH far too much and processed it too little for it to be considered safe as it is. If it has been more than 24 hours since it was made freezing is your only option now.

If you want to can it the closest I can get you is the BBB instructions for Seasoned Tomato Sauce. If it has been less that 24 hours since made it all has to go back into the pot and brought back to a boil for 10 mins. Then refill clean jars with new lids, add 2 T of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 tsp citric acid to each quart jar to compensate for the oil/garlic/fresh basil, and BWB process it for 40 minutes.

For future reference friends are not the best source for canning instructions when safety is important to you. Tomatoes alone can be BWB processed but even they require longer processing time. When you add other low-acid ingredients to them you are moving into the pressure canning range for safety. Get yourself a copy of the Ball Blue Book or use the online instructions from NCHFP.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/

Dave

THANK YOU DAVE ! I will order one this week-end ! I really appreciate your guidance !

corey, until you buy that book, as Dave mentioned you can also find assistance on line at the National Center for Home Food Preservation, http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html. Lots of free advice and their recipes are all safe.

Happy Canning.

Annie

I freeze tomatoes processed like that all the time. Don't be discouraged, they will freeze fine if you get on it right away. In fact, maybe your friend did freeze them. But please, if you want to can tomatoes, follow the instructions on the Web site Dave mentioned or buy the Ball Blue Book of Canning! Or even go to Ball's Web site, http://www.freshpreserving.com/home

There are tons of tested and safe recipes for tomato sauce similar to what you made, but tested for safety to prevent botulism.

Canning tomatoes is easy and safe if you follow the instructions based on research into food safety, but a nightmare if you don't. Or you can just freeze stuff, lots of folks don't can, they freeze instead. But never confuse the processing methods for the two ways of preserving the harvest. With freezing, one of the issues is leaving enough head space in the jar or plastic container to allow for the expansion of the liquid as it freezes. If you don't do that, your jar or container could break, wasting the contents. But generally I have good luck freezing BWB things if I take the rings off. I end up freezing a few jars of this and that every year when the jars don't seal during processing.