Porto Santo Jewish Unleavened Bread

The item known as Bolo Ázimo dos Judeus do Porto Santo is a very simple flatbread: barley flour kneaded with water and salt, without yeast, opened into thin rounds and cooked on a hot griddle. Its surface is matt and sandy with toasted spots; the interior is compact, without the tall crumb of bolo do caco.

The island's aridity, the historical importance of barley and the usefulness of quick breads help explain the persistence of this form. It appears in Portugal's national traditional-products list under bakery and pastry, although bolo here carries the island sense of a flattened bread or dough rather than a sugared cake.

The official designation gives it a Jewish association. Open sources confirm that it is locally presented as bread of Jewish origin, but they do not document an unbroken ritual chain or a specific producing community. This page preserves the inventory name while clearly separating food tradition from an unproven historical claim.