With 3,998 miles of coastline to its name – and an equal length of the Andes mountains dominating its landscape – it’s a safe bet to assume that Chile isn’t lacking in ingredients.

Here, Rodolfo Guzmán, Carolina Bazán and Ciro Watanabe – three chefs working in Santiago who rank among Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2014 – select one ingredient that they couldn’t cook without.

Rodolfo Guzmán, Boragó, No. 5 in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants
“Cochayuyo (Durvillaea antarctica) is a kelp that the Mapuche indigenous people used to gather from the coast, people who were known as the Lafkenche. Today we know it as cochayuyo, which means ‘sea plant’ in the Quechua language.

The Mapuche gathered it for hundreds of years and it became one of Chile’s most popular kelps. These days you can buy the upper part, cochayuyo, dehydrated in supermarkets as well as the stalks or huites. It has a surprising texture that’s similar to palm heart but with a very intense maritime flavour.

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