Elderberries are so tiny that harvesting locally is challenging. DH got me a whole large bucket but once I took them off the stems and twigs, I had almost nothing, and many were not ripe. Actually made a sort of juice from them but it was pale-ish and just not the potent stuff when I use a lot of ripened dried once. Maybe if you made juice from them bit by bit and froze until you had enough to make a decent batch of syrup?
I used to have a couple of U pick places for concord grapes (HUGE YUM!) and they are so healthy, and made grape juice, often 30 qts. Then the places closed up (whine and cry) and sold the juicer to someone younger with more energy.
I also started this method, with the last batch of grapes - wash, stem, stuff in quart jars, pour in very light hot syrup, put in water bath canner for 20 minutes. When I wanted juice, I poured out the contents of one jar into the blender and pulsed it until all blended up but seeds were intact. Strained out, and ooooh lala - fantastic delicious thick juice! all the skins in there. I actually have a few pathetic concord grape vines but they are in horrid soil and all they manage to do is survive, poor things. It’s up to DH if he wants to get them into better soil. And then, there are foxes...
I don’t know if htis would work or not for elderberry, but if so, it woudl cut way down o n the work- it has slots i nthe back for ther berries to slip out of too- one person for another similar type said it didn’;t work good on whiole bushes, but worked pretty food for smaller clumps-
Love your grape juice method! I’m growing seedless grapes, (Somerset, light red) but they seem to be crossing with the local wild grapes, so I am getting some seeds and a lot of them turned purple anyway!
Either way, they made great juice this season. I didn’t add any sugar to the juice and it’s just terrific as is. Tastes like Summertime. :)
Adding Blueberries and Blackberries to the plot this season; we already grow the grapes and strawberries. I see lots of ‘mixed juice’ in my future. ;)