The original recipe I got used 7 cups; I just buy a pound of dried berries, make the juice as explained, and adjust honey/alcohol proportions per the amount of juice, more or less.
I assume that one could use fresh berries to make the uuice, but it would be a different method. Main thing is I think one doesn’t want to cook them, ie boiling etc. Maybe with a steamer juicer? I usd to have one, works well for grapes, pears and not so good for peaches, tried once with blackberries and I had to throw away thejuice. Because the seeds of blackberries contain a bitter substance that when steamed like that for a long time gets into the juice.
Jucst canned them regular way after that.
So, not sure the best way to get elderberry juice from harvested ones, maybe search around? Easier than drying first I would think.
I have a steamer/juicer that I use for cooking down grapes for juice. I love it!
If I can get to the wild Elderberries before the birds do this season, I’ll try that.
They seem to ripen in stages, so that may help. :)