I have heard of raspberries and blackberries getting wwwaaaayyyy out of control In the Phx area - I wouldn't recommend them.
I do recommend some of the Passifloras - passion fruit, of course.
Date palms, date producing, but otherwise not my favorite plant.
You may want to balance your fruit tree needs with water needs - lots of fruit trees will grow there but need outrageous amounts of irrigation in order to do well - apples, a lot of the citrus, apricots, etc. Not sustainable, IMO (and keep in mind that my opinion differs greatly from many people in that area).
I also concur on the humidity needs of the vanilla - there was a poster on DG who built a glass case for his just to maintain the humidity - and I *think* he was in Alabama?
Did you know that the Mesquite tree pods were ground for flour? They're ever so slightly sweet, too.
I would Google "Native Seeds/SEARCH" down in Tucson - they are likely to have good info on their seeds for food production. Seeds of Change also provide a lot of desert/ desert adapted plant seeds, as does J.L.Hudson, seedman.
Hope this is helpful!
