Prickly pear cactus would probably work for you can eat pads and fruit

Floral:

Gooseberries grew fine for me, but they were always very tart, and I never found a use for them. I love plums, and the trees grow fine here (with irrigation), but the crop gets destroyed most years from late spring frosts (this is essentially the same story for all the stone fruits, as well as the pomes, to varying degrees).

Melikeeatplants:

Yes, prickly pears do grow very well here, although not the cultivated Ficus indica since it is far too cold, so just various wild species. The fruits do make an unusual and delicious treat (though they take a lot of work to de-spine). I have used them for jelly, syrup, and as a dye though. Too bad most of the really special species of cactus are more subtropical (the columnar types in particular I'm thinking of).

I wanted to add an explanation why I pulled out each of the plants in the list above, but thought that would be too overwhelming for opening the thread! But most of them were due to: climate issues (specifically late springs frosts, winter cold, and aridity in the cases of stone fruit, blackberry, fig, pomegranate, hardy kiwi), poor production (such as with goji, seaberry, black raspberry), and underutilization by my family and me (gooseberry, golden current).

One more thing:

I should also note that I probably would never have pulled out any of these plants if it weren't for the fact that they require regular watering in my climate, and despite capturing upwards of 20,000 gallons of rainwater every year (I have 5,000 gallons of rainwater storage), I still pay a great deal in water costs, since we have some of the most expensive water in the world where I live. For most people it is the space that is limiting, which is much less true for me, on my 1.25 acre lot.

I grow varieties of gooseberries which can be used for cooking when under ripe or raw when fully ripe. They are sweet and juicy at the right stage. What cultivars did you try? Uses are pies, jam, classic fool but for us mostly as compote for breakfast or dessert. Bit of yoghurt but little or no sugar needed.

Pity you have to water. I don’t think I’d bother with any fruit if I had to water. Too lazy.

My biggest disappointment (and mistake) was ordering 3 varieties of seedless grapes (green, red, & purple) which the catalog stated were good for zone 7. The vines were strong and grew just fine but the grapes were too susceptible to my locale plant diseases and more moist climate than say a typical Z-7 in dryer areas like CA. After 10 years (I was patient) I ripped them out and used their trellis for other climbing annual veggies. Apparently my area is best suited for winery grapes or seeded concord types.

My second biggest mistake was apples, I had no idea how destructive cedar rust was going to be on the trees when I moved out to the country from the city. Cedar trees are everywhere out here on just about every home owners lot, no avoiding them.

I've been disappointed with apple growing. I've been struggling with four trees for 5 years and have not had a decent year of fruit yet. I had no idea how much work it would be to combat the coddling moth and the many animals that want to eat them. I was determined to have at least one year with worm-free fruit, so I sprayed with nasty chemicals this year. They are worm free, but then we had two hail storms and the apples were all pitted and split, those parts exposed to the sun burned and rotted (the hail ripped off most of the leaves) and then squirrels ate them. They need a lot more water than I expected, and it is a pain to pick up all the fallen half-rotten fruit. I'm planning on removing at least two of the trees this year.

I’m thinking of pulling out my 3 haskap shrubs (Lonicera caerulea). The fruit is just too sour for our taste buds, and we’ve let birds have a go at it for the past 2 years. I lost one of two pear trees last year, and I’m debating whether I should plant a new one or pull out the remaining one...

noseometer:

Yay, someone from ABQ on the forum! I'm outside of Santa Fe, where all the early spring flowering trees fruit only infrequently, including apples. Apples and pears seem to be the most affected by pests here of all the fruits I've grown and seen being grown. That said, with some trees in some places in town in certain years, there are tons of good quality apples grown chemical free without any care...

For NM, I cannot recommend jujube highly enough -- it laughs at heat and drought, and produces in abundance every year. My favorite variety is called "Sugarcane," but I've only tried Li and Lang otherwise. I would definitely be growing pomegranates if I lived in Albuquerque, I always love seeing them around town and my place is just a bit too cold.

mazerolm:

I always wondered about those, and I'm not too surprised by your findings... I so wish a person could taste all of these unusual things extensively before planting them!

I'd forgottten about Jujubes. Maybe I'll try one. Too bad the trees are not very attractive though. I've done well with a fig tree here. Sometimes I can even beat the birds to the fruit. Pomegranates are pretty, but the fruit is not easy to eat, and from what I hear, not consistent here.

Nmfruit: I agree, it would be great to taste before growing. There’s a few on your “ripped” list that I debated trying out. I’ve realized that even though something is technically edible, it doesn’t mean that I’ll enjoy it! But It will definitely mean care and effort. I planted arctic kiwis this Spring. I have high hopes for these, but if I don’t like the fruit, I’ll rip it out and replace with fool-proof berries (blueberries, strawberries and our family favourite, amelanchier canadensis)

The hardy kiwis are really tasty, way better than fuzzy kiwis. Of course they are much smaller, so you have to think of them as grapes or something. My local Trader Joe's used to sell the fruit every year, I'm not sure if they still do.

If you're in a less arid place than I am you'll probably have luck growing them. All my attempts failed -- the vines seemed to need a great deal of water in my climate, and they came out of dormancy too early in spring and so got zapped by freezes. In your zone maybe it stays cool long enough in spring to prevent that.

Good luck

Oh that’s good to know about the kiwis. We have snow until May, but the upside is that we don’t get the thaw-freeze cycles! :)