Is Hidden Valley the original ranch dressing? (Spoiler alert: it is.)

Today we are checking out the history of the most popular salad dressing – by far – in this country: ranch dressing.

 

Definition: A creamy buttermilk-based dressing with garlic and other spices and herbs.

Ranch dressing did in fact originate on a ranch – Hidden Valley Guest Ranch, just outside of Santa Barbara.

A Nebraska man by the name of Steve Henson decided to move west with his wife Gayle to open up a dude ranch in 1954. This 120 acre plot was situated amongst mountains, streams, and waterfalls. Guests could enjoy horseback riding among scenic views during the day, and home cooked meals in the evening.

The Hensons served up a homemade buttermilk salad dressing that the guests could not get enough of. Those staying at the ranch began taking home to-go jars of the special dressing to their families and friends, who in turn of course requested more. The demand grew so high that the Hensons started a mail-order business.

By the 1960s, Hidden Valley Ranch dressing production expanded along with its fan base. The mix began being sold in stores all over southern California. But, there was an obstacle to overcome.

The buttermilk in the beloved dressing perished quickly, so Hidden Valley Ranch was sold in packets to mix at home with buttermilk, mayonnaise, and herbs. However, many people didn’t (and still don’t) have buttermilk in the refrigerator regularly, making the creation of the dressing less than convenient.

Nevertheless, Ranch’s reputation was still surging. In 1972, Clorox bought the Hidden Valley Ranch brand from the Hensons for $8 million.

Ready to take on the buttermilk challenge, Clorox came up with adding butter flavoring to the seasoning so consumers could make the dressing with plain milk instead. However, further improvements were needed.

More and more salad dressings were being sold by the bottle instead of in make-it-yourself packets. Although the packets were bettered with the butter flavoring, the quick spoilage of dairy-based Ranch still needed to be fixed – enter preservatives!

Preservatives are not good for you, but they’re in many, many foods, because they allow the items to sit on grocery store shelves for longer periods of time. Clorox managed to extend Ranch’s shelf life to 150 days.

When Ranch made it to bottled form in 1983 the popularity only continued to increase – do we see a pattern, here?

Ranch dressing has not only been popular right from its conception, but it literally continues to get more and more and more popular as time goes on.

During the 1980s and 1990s restaurants began including the dressing in their fare; at the same time other companies started selling ranch-style dressing. Fast food chains began including packets with their salads, and basically it just started popping up everywhere.

Folks were beginning to realize that this is more than just a salad dressing – it’s a dip for chips, a sandwich and burger spreader, a pizza topping, a fried food enhancer. . .

Ranch is so complimentary to so many things it’s easy to see how many have labeled it “the new ketchup.”

In 1987, Frito-Lay released the extremely well received Cool Ranch Doritos, yet again extending ranch’s capabilities: it’s not only a dressing, a topping, and a dip, but it is a flavor in and of itself. Seven years later, Clorox jumped on the ranch chip bandwagon by partnering with Frito-Lay and releasing Hidden Valley Ranch Wavy Lays.

In 1992, ranch officially replaced Italian as the favorite salad dressing of Americans, where it remains today, holding strong for 22 years and counting.

Furthermore, global information company NPD Group reported earlier this year that bottled ranch dressing is the number one dressing shipped to cafeterias, restaurants, and institutions in the country – this is doubling that of its closest competitor, blue cheese, “and no one’s even talking about Italian dressing anymore.”

What can explain the universal adoration for this salad dressing? Simply put, it’s the flavor.

It has a cool, refreshing feel to it, it’s creamy, and there’s a tiny bit of a zing to it. Other salad dressings have their own special tastes, but ranch’s flavorings are mild enough to satisfy more people.

For instance, Italian dressing, which is still up there in ranking, is basically a glorified vinaigrette – not a whole lot of flavor going on. Russian or thousand island dressing can have chili sauce in it – not something everyone loves in a salad dressing. Caesar dressing contains anchovy paste, another less than appealing salad dressing ingredient.

Generally speaking, overly sweet or spicy flavors satisfy niche crowds, and not the masses. Ranch consists of a taste that truly caters to everyone.

Clearly, ranch dressing is the best dressing. But, is Hidden Valley Ranch the best ranch dressing? Not according to many.

First of all, homemade ranch dressing has to be better than the bottled stuff because it doesn’t have the preservatives and additives in it. I’ve never made my own ranch dressing at home, but now I’ll have to give it try. This one looks like a good recipe.

But secondly, even when compared to other bottled dressing brands, Hidden Valley still doesn’t come out on top.

The Huffington Post highlighted a ranch dressing taste test between 12 different brands a couple of years ago, including Hidden Valley. Each competitor was given a “highly recommended,” “mildly recommended,” or “not recommended” rating.

Hidden Valley was dubbed “mildly recommended,” with the following comments recorded: “Super creamy. . .but it doesn’t taste fresh,” “I’m getting some hints of blue cheese,” “Just okay,” “Tastes almost like old black pepper. There’s no herb flavor – it’s very artificial.”

Marie’s Creamy Ranch Dressing and Marzetti Classic Ranch Dressing came highly recommended, with the Kraft and Wishbone brands tying with Hidden Valley. Other contenders, including Ken’s Steakhouse and Newman’s Own, were not recommended.

There is also a more in depth ranch brand challenge from SeriousEats.com here, which concluded that no brand comes highly recommended, making the notion of homemade ranch even more appealing.

Admittedly, I myself am a Hidden Valley Ranch person, just like I only buy Heinz ketchup and Hellmann’s mayonnaise. As mentioned before, though, I am going to give this one a go at home, so look forward to that blog post in the future.

I can just imagine how much better *real* ranch dressing tastes, the way the Hensons intended it to – with a high quality buttermilk, fresh herbs, and zero preservatives.