Puzata Khata (Pot-Bellied Hut) Tomato Review & Photos

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Quick Summary of Puzata Khata (Pot-Bellied Hut)

  • 🌍 Origin & Name: An immensely popular commercial Russian variety introduced by the “Aelita” seed company. The name translates to “Pot-Bellied Hut”, which perfectly describes its wide, plump, ribbed, pouch-like shape.
  • 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, tall, and highly vigorous. The vines are thick and powerful, easily reaching 1.5 – 2 meters (5 – 6.5 ft) in a greenhouse. Most growers agree it performs best when pruned to 2 main stems.
  • 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Deeply ribbed, pear or pouch-shaped red fruits. The average weight is around 300g (10.5 oz), but under optimal conditions, they can reach a massive 700-800g (1.5 – 1.7 lbs).
  • 👅 Flavor & Texture: It is highly prized as a “workhorse” variety. The flesh is dense, meaty, and classic in flavor (sweet with a hint of acid). While it is great fresh, its thick walls make it an absolute champion for rich sauces, juices, and long-term autumn storage. Note: In extreme heat, some fruits may develop hollow seed cavities.
  • ⚖️ Puzata Khata vs. Sto Pudov: This variety is frequently compared to another Russian ribbed pear called Sto Pudov (100 Poods). While similar, growers note that Puzata Khata generally has a stronger bush, higher yields, and red interior flesh (compared to the darker burgundy flesh of Sto Pudov).
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Katrinka ⭐ Veteran (5,732 posts)
📍 Volgograd, Russia (USDA Zone 6)

Initially—seeds from the Aelita company.

Official Description: Early ripening (87-92 days from emergence to fruit ripening), high-yielding variety with a long fruiting period, for open ground and film shelters. Fruits are wide pear-shaped, ribbed, meaty, very tasty, weighing up to 300g (10.5 oz). The color of ripe fruits is red. Indispensable for fresh consumption and all types of processing. The fruits retain their commercial qualities perfectly after picking and during transportation.

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Katrinka ⭐ Veteran (5,732 posts)
📍 Volgograd, Russia (USDA Zone 6)

They were sown on May 20, began to ripen on September 7 (an experiment with late planting). Grew outdoors. The bush is powerful, tall. Not many fruits, but they are large. I couldn’t fully evaluate the variety’s potential due to the late planting.

The fruit is large, meaty, without acidity. I liked it, I will plant it again next year.

Puzata Khata ribbed pear tomato
Puzata Khata meaty cross-section

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Galina K ⭐ Beginner (37 posts)
📍 Russia

Planted it for the first time this year. Very productive, late, takes a long time to ripen. Huge orange-red tomatoes (up to 800g / 1.7 lbs, there were no small ones at all) and lots of them.

Interesting appearance—pleated/ribbed. Inside the cavities there is empty space (which isn’t great), the skin and flesh are dense, not watery. The taste is quite mediocre (although compared to ‘Wonder of the World’, it’s good), but it stored for a very long time. This summer was very cold (essentially we didn’t even have a summer), so I will plant a couple of bushes again—maybe it will be tastier, but I have my doubts.

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Galya-64 ⭐ Veteran (4,414 posts)
📍 Russia

Katyusha, here is my report: this is how your/my “Puzata Khata” turned out. Actually, it is a late variety, they only just started ripening.

Puzata Khata growing on the vine
Puzata Khata red pouch tomatoes

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Galya-64 ⭐ Veteran (4,414 posts)
📍 Russia

But Galina surprised me—I can’t even imagine fruits up to 800g on this variety. Mine are small, about 120-150g (4-5 oz). Shaped like a little pouch, quite uniform on the truss.

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Katrinka ⭐ Veteran (5,732 posts)
📍 Volgograd, Russia (USDA Zone 6)

I had 300g (10.5 oz) fruits last year. I didn’t plant it this year; I replaced it with ‘Sto Pudov’ (100 Poods).

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Tomatinka ⭐ Pro Grower (14,911 posts)
📍 Tyumen Region, Siberia (USDA Zone 3)

Katya, and how was it? Did you find any differences? In my opinion, they are exactly the same variety. :-[

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Katrinka ⭐ Veteran (5,732 posts)
📍 Volgograd, Russia (USDA Zone 6)

Tomatinka said:
Did you find any differences? In my opinion, they are exactly the same variety.

Vera, to truly compare, you need to plant two plants side by side, not in different years.

My Sto Pudov (2014) doesn’t look like my Puzata Khata (2013). Puzata Khata grew during a rainy, cold September; it produced large cracked tomatoes with a decent but slightly bland taste. Sto Pudov grew in the baking heat, and I only got 5 fruits of 100g each, but they were very tasty.

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Galya-64 ⭐ Veteran (4,414 posts)
📍 Russia

Tomatinka said:
Did you find any differences?

Ver, it seems to me they are different. In my observations, the Puzata Khata bush is much more powerful and taller. And the fruits of Sto Pudov are more cube-shaped, while Puzata Khata looks as if it was slightly pulled from the top, making it more refined at the stem (like a pear).

I carefully compared the two varieties again, this time cut open and by taste. Taste-wise, both have a sweetness—practically indistinguishable. But I did find a difference: My Sto Pudov has dark flesh, closer to a burgundy color (though the outside is red), while Puzata Khata has red flesh that matches its skin.

Comparison between Puzata Khata and Sto Pudov tomatoes

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Galina K ⭐ Beginner (37 posts)
📍 Russia

Galya-64 said:
I can’t even imagine fruits up to 800g on this variety. Mine are small, about 120-150g.

I don’t know why they swole up so much for me in 2013; the weight clearly did not match the variety description. I can only say this—they stayed green for a very long time and kept gaining weight. I only pick fully colored tomatoes from the bush, so I ended up picking them pale pink right before the frost when I was clearing the greenhouse. We ate them even later—the skin was thick and they just wouldn’t turn red.

Last year, my Puzata Khata wasn’t “pot-bellied” at all—just 300g. I’ll plant it again though, because it stores well.

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Zhaby ⭐ Beginner (101 posts)
📍 Russia

Grew it in 2014. Outdoors. Picked green to ripen indoors on August 31. We “choked” on them (as my husband said, because there were so many, but they were delicious!!!) until early December. I will plant it again!

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Lana ⭐ Veteran (1,417 posts)
📍 Russia

A good variety. I grew ‘Sto Pudov’, and I liked ‘Puzata Khata’ better. The yield is higher, and the fruit mass is larger.

Grew in a greenhouse, led into 3 stems. Tall, mid-late, productive. The taste is ordinary classic tomato, nothing fancy. Due to its yield and unpretentiousness, it is on my planting list for next year.

Puzata Khata heavy truss
Puzata Khata red pouch tomato

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ElenaN ⭐ Pro Grower (28,513 posts)
📍 Kostroma, Russia (USDA Zone 3-4)

Puzata Khata was earlier for me than Iceberg and Belmonte, and better in taste and yield. Belmonte often gave me somewhat hollow fruits.

Puzata Khata harvest
Puzata Khata tomatoes on scale
Puzata Khata sliced

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Yaroslavna ⭐ Veteran (6,273 posts)
📍 Yaroslavl Region (USDA Zone 4)

I grew “Puzata Khata” last year, and planted “Sto Pudov” for comparison—both from commercial seed packets… Puzata Khata proved to be a highly productive, mid-season variety. The bushes were simply dripping with large, pear-shaped fruits! Sto Pudov turned out to be an unremarkable, wimpy bush with just a few small fruits (I didn’t even take a photo). Growing conditions, care, and feeding for both varieties were exactly the same.

Puzata Khata hanging heavy in greenhouse

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Elena73 ⭐ Beginner (268 posts)
📍 Krasnodar Territory, Russia (USDA Zone 6-7)

Mine had almost no hollow cavities at the beginning of summer, but they did in August. But that was most likely because I treated the blossoms with a biological fruit-set spray, otherwise they wouldn’t set fruit at all in the 42°C (107°F) heat.

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Kapitoska ⭐ Veteran (1,729 posts)
📍 Ural Mountains, Russia (USDA Zone 3)

I used store-bought seeds. Grew both in the greenhouse and outdoors. The yield is absolutely crazy in both places! The taste is mediocre. I used it all for ketchup. Very large fruits from 300 to 600g (10 – 21 oz). Even outdoors there were specimens around 700g (1.5 lbs). Late. Started picking at the end of August.

Puzata Khata crazy yield in greenhouse
Puzata Khata massive red pouch tomato

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Tyumtikaya ⭐ Beginner (54 posts)
📍 Ufa, Russia (USDA Zone 3)

Grew in an old greenhouse in the middle row. Reached about 2m (6.5 ft). Very happy with the harvest. There were a lot of fruits. The first ones were completely seedless. Then they wouldn’t ripen for a long time. Picked them green in September—some ripened indoors, the brown ones went into sauce. The tomatoes are firm, I missed the tomato aroma a bit. But I will plant it again.

Puzata Khata solid meat cross section
Puzata Khata tomatoes weighing on scale

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Valentina ⭐ Enthusiast (825 posts)
📍 Abakan, Khakassia, Siberia (USDA Zone 3)

I’ll leave a report on Puzata Khata too. Planted it for the first time. As they say, the best things are right under our noses, but we look up at the sky… Store-bought seeds, planted on a whim. Looks like it turned out to be the true strain!

In my conditions, it was one of the earliest. I am delighted with the variety. Lots of fruit, not sickly, and for me, it was sweeeeet! Now it’s permanently on my grow list. Sowed March 8, went into the greenhouse April 14. Tall plant, right up to the greenhouse roof, with a powerful stem.

Someone asked why there are no ribs visible on my sliced photo. That’s because there was no hollow space! It was solid tomato meat.

Puzata Khata heavy truss forming
Puzata Khata red ribbed pear tomato
Puzata Khata solid meaty interior without hollows

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Lenasya ⭐ Beginner (15 posts)
📍 Novosibirsk, Siberia (USDA Zone 3)

I grow 1-2 bushes every year. Mid-late, powerful tall bush. This year I specifically counted—I picked 30 tomatoes off one bush. Of course, not all at once, gradually as they ripened. The tomatoes are large, without hollows, solid meat, tasty, without yellow shoulders. They store well.

My 73-year-old neighbor planted her entire greenhouse with Puzata Khata this year. Since this variety is late, she waited a long time for the first tomatoes, but then, when her Puzata Khata started ripening, she didn’t know what to do with the harvest. She supplied tomatoes to all the neighbors at the dacha and in the city. I consider Puzata Khata a very successful variety from the Aelita company. It has a permanent place in my garden.

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Inna5867 ⭐ Pro Grower (3,031 posts)
📍 Saratov Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4-5)

We’ve been planting Aelita’s Puzata Khata for about 6 years. In 2019, I started experimenting with it: pruned it to 1 stem, 2, 3, and let some grow wild. The best result is 2 stems. The tomatoes are almost all identical, from 300 to 500g (10.5 – 17.5 oz), without hollows. Bush is 150cm (5 ft). The lower trusses had to be tied up. The summer was rainy, but they didn’t crack. There’s no acidity, all 8 bushes went into making juice.

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Natalya79 ⭐ Pro Grower (2,703 posts)
📍 Tula Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Planted in 2020 in the greenhouse. I loved the variety. We ate the first fruits in early July, the yield was off the charts. The taste had sweetness. Inside, there were no hollows.

Natalya's huge Puzata Khata tomato on scale
Puzata Khata meaty flesh
Harvest of Puzata Khata red pouch tomatoes

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CWERT ⭐ Enthusiast (743 posts)
📍 Russia

A true workhorse. I plant a couple of bushes every season. Tasty, meaty, classic flavor.

CWERT's harvest of Puzata Khata tomatoes

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