 Homemade ranch dressing | |
| Type | Salad dressing ordip |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Alaska, United States |
| Associatedcuisine | American cuisine |
| Created by | Steve Henson |
| Invented | Early 1950s |
| Main ingredients | |
Ranch dressing is a savory, creamyAmericansalad dressing usually made frombuttermilk,salt,garlic,onion,black pepper, andherbs (commonlychives,parsley anddill), mixed into a sauce based onmayonnaise or another oilemulsion.[1]Sour cream andyogurt are sometimes used in addition to, or as a substitute for, buttermilk and mayonnaise.
Ranch has been the best-selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992, when it overtookItalian dressing.[2] It is also popular in the United States andCanada as adip, and as a flavoring forpotato chips and other foods. In 2017, 40% of Americans named ranch as their favorite dressing, according to a study by the Association for Dressings and Sauces.[3] Ranch dressing is most prominently used in theMidwest region.[4]
The original Ranch salad dressing recipe was concocted in the early 1950s by Steven Henson (1918–2007), aThayer, Nebraska, native working as aplumbing contractor in theAnchorage, Alaska, area, while cooking to feed his work crews. Henson retired from plumbing at age 35 and moved with his wife Gayle toSanta Barbara County, California, where in 1956 he purchased aguest ranch inSan Marcos Pass and renamed it Hidden Valley Ranch.[5][6][7][8]
Henson served the salad dressing he had created at his Hidden Valley Ranchsteakhouse, which became popular, and guests bought jars to take home.[6] The first commercial customer for ranch dressing was Henson's friend, Audrey Ovington, who was the owner ofCold Spring Tavern.[7] By 1957, Henson began selling packages of dressing mix in stores.[7][8]
Henson began selling the dry ingredients in packages by mail for 75 cents a piece, and eventually devoted every room in his house to the operation.[7] By the mid-1960s, the guest ranch had closed, but Henson's "ranch dressing" mail-order business was thriving.[7][8]
The Hensons incorporated Hidden Valley Ranch Food Products, Inc., and opened a factory to manufacture ranch dressing in larger volumes, which they first distributed to supermarkets inthe Southwest, and eventually nationwide.[9]
Manufacturing of the mix was later moved toSan Jose, then toColorado, and then toSparks, Nevada, in 1972.[7][9]
In October 1972, the Hidden Valley Ranch brand was bought byClorox for $8 million,[2][7] and Henson retired.[7]
Kraft Foods andGeneral Foods introduced similar dry seasoning packets labeled as "ranch style". Clorox reformulated the Hidden Valley Ranch dressing several times to make it more convenient for consumers, including adding buttermilk flavoring to the seasoning, allowing the dressing to be made using much less expensive regularmilk.[2] In 1983, Clorox developed anon-refrigerated bottled formulation.
During the 1980s, ranch became a common snack food flavor, starting withCool Ranch Doritos in 1987.Hidden Valley Ranch Wavy Lay's potato chips were introduced in 1994.[2]
In 1992, ranch surpassed Italian dressing to become the best-selling salad dressing in the United States.[2]
During the 1990s, Hidden Valley had three child-oriented variations of ranch dressing: pizza, nacho cheese, and taco flavors.[10][11]
In 1994,Domino’s first started offering ranch sauce as a condiment with its chicken wings and pizzas, a combination that quickly became popular with customers.[12]
As of 2002, Cloroxsubsidiary Hidden Valley Manufacturing Company was producing ranch packets and bottled dressings at two large factories, inReno, Nevada, andWheeling, Illinois.[9]
In 2017, Hidden Valley Ranch Products turned over $450 million.[3]
Ranch dressing is produced by many manufacturers, including Hidden Valley,Ken's,Kraft, Litehouse, Marie's,Newman's Own, andWish-Bone, as well asHeinz in theMiddle East.
In theSouthwestern United States, there is a variant fromNew Mexican cuisine called "green chile ranch" which adds greenNew Mexico chile pepper as an ingredient.[13][14] Regional restaurant chains, likeDion's, produce and sell green chile ranch, as do others.[15][16][17]
Other variations includeavocado,roasted red pepper, andtruffle.[1][18]
One side effect of the adoption of the name "ranch" for Henson's new salad dressing was that it resulted in a federal lawsuit over whether the phrase "ranch style" could be used to describe competing salad dressing products. Since the early 1930s, there had also been an existing brand ofpinto beans branded as “Ranch Style Beans”, now marketed byConagra Brands.
In 1975, Waples-Platter, the Texas-based manufacturer and founder of Ranch Style Beans, sued Kraft Foods and General Foods fortrademark infringement for their "ranch style" products, even though Waples-Platter had declined to enter the salad dressing market itself over concerns about rapid spoilage.
The case was tried in 1976 before federal judgeEldon Brooks Mahon inFort Worth, Texas. Mahon ruled in favor of Waples-Platter in a lengthy opinion, which described the various "ranch style" and "ranch" products then available in the 1970s in the United States, of which many had been created to compete against Hidden Valley Ranch. Mahon's opinion cites evidence indicating lawyers had compelled Henson himself to sit for adeposition during thediscovery process to testify about the history of Hidden Valley Ranch.[19]
Mahon specifically noted that Hidden Valley Ranch and Waples-Platter had no dispute with each other, though he also said Hidden Valley Ranch was simultaneously suing General Foods in a separate federal case in California. The only issue before the Texas federal district court was that Waples-Platter was disputing the right of other American food manufacturers to compete against Hidden Valley Ranch by using the label "ranch style".[19]
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