Perhaps this information from the National Center for Home Food Preservation will be helpful.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/remake_soft_jelly.html

Information for making tested recipes for cherry jelly and jam can be located here:

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can7_jam_jelly.html

Well, first of all you should have checked for a set before you put into jars.

the rule of thumb....at least my rule of my thumb...is equal amounts of fruit and sugar.> It didn't set either because you have too much water in relation to the fruit/sugar...or possibly because you didn't cook it long enough after you added the pectin>
Yes you can cook it some more......but it's such a royal pain to have to empty, wash and refill the jars!!...Just reprocessing the sealed jars won't do a thing....you have to empty and re cook.....and for 16 cups of fruit...I would add another envelop of pectin. Are the cherries sour? if not maybe also the juice of a lemon will help with the set.

Why do the recipes in the links posted by grainlady require bottled lemon juice? I always use fresh....

Because it is a standard acidity. Fresh lemons can be sweeter or more sour.

Thanks...weird that the recipes in the pectin boxes call for fresh lemon juice. I thought it had to do with jelling rather than flavor.

The lemon in jams and jellies is about acidity and food safety, not about jelling. That jelly may set up yet. Sometimes it takes a while to set with low pectin fruit and added pectin products.

As mentioned by LindaC, the "traditional" ratio for jelly is 50/50, so cup for cup fruit and sugar, but that's without any additional commercial pectin. I think I'd just dump it back into a pot and cook it until it reaches gel stage. I test by putting a saucer in the freezer and then dabbing a bit of cooked jelly onto the cold saucer and putting it back in the freezer for a minute. If it sets up and doesn't run down the plate, it's done. Gel stage is about 218, but I do better with a cold plate than I do with a thermometer, for some reason.

As Mary says, I wouldn't give up on it yet, it may still turn to jelly, some kinds take a bit longer than others and marmalade sometimes takes several days.

It can be "remade" with additional pectin, but whenever I do that I get a "gummy bear" kind of texture which I really don't care for, so I seldom do that.

Good luck, Linda! Is cherry pie next?

Annie

Thanks all! I dumped it all back in the pot, added another cup of sugar and another envelope of pectin. It did gel this time, but it's a "loose" jelly, which is fine by me.

I neglected to add in my original post that I did add the juice of one fresh lemon. The reason I used less sugar is I wanted more fruit flavor and not a terribly sweet jelly.

It's good. I am happy with the finished product.

Pie? Nope, probably not. Nanking's are really small, more pit than fruit. So jelly is the best use of them. And if I would have had to live with syrup, that would have been fine, too.

I am just so darn happy to have gotten a decent harvest of them finally!

And now we're moving and I will leave them behind.....or will I?

Linda