The History of Ranch Dressing started in 1949 from a hidden valley. (2024)

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The History of Ranch Dressing started in 1949 from a hidden valley.? ›

History tells us ranch dressing was created in 1949 by a plumber-turned-cowboy in Alaska. Steve Henson is the man behind this dressing perfection. In fact, Henson moved to California and purchased a ranch he called Hidden Valley Ranch, which made the now famous dressing a staple.

In 1954 ranch dressing was invented at Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California. Ranch dressing has been the best-selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992, overtaking Italian dressing. Since 1972 Hidden Valley Ranch has been owned by Clorox.

Who Invented Ranch? Around 1950, Steve Henson unknowingly made history when he whipped up a unique mixture of dry herbs and buttermilk. Originally a plumber, Steve came up with the concoction while working briefly in Anchorage as a construction worker and part-time cook for his crew.

Invention. Ranch dressing was invented in the early 1950s by Steven Henson (1918–2007), a Thayer, Nebraska native working as a plumbing contractor in the Anchorage, Alaska area, while cooking to feed his work crews.

by a black Nebrask and cowboy named Steve Henson. Steve named his company after his ranch, Hidden Valley, and he came up with it. while trying to find a new recipe to feed his workers. he eventually sold this company to Clorox in 1972.

HIDDEN VALLEY RANCH STARTED IN 1954

That's when Steve Henson and his wife, Gayle, purchased 120 acres of sprawling land nestled in the mountains outside of Santa Barbara, California, and started a dude ranch.

Have you scoured the aisles of your local grocery store searching for your beloved Hidden Valley Ranch only to leave the store empty-handed, or with another brand? Clorox, Hidden Valley's parent company, is dealing with a cyberattack that has affected the dressing's production.

Ranch dressing is ubiquitous in Iowa. You'll find it on salads, veggies and alongside French fries and cheese curds — and sometimes even on pizza and tacos.

On October 30, 1972, The Clorox Company bought a small mail-order dressing business called Hidden Valley® Ranch. Forty-five years on, the Hidden Valley brand has grown far beyond its rural California beginnings. Ranch is a category all its own, a flavor beloved the world over, and not just on salads.

However, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. Deep Hollow Ranch, 110 miles (180 km) east of New York City in Montauk, New York, claims to be the first ranch in the United States, having continuously operated since 1658.

How much is Hidden Valley Ranch worth? ›

Meanwhile, back in Santa Barbara, the Hidden Valley Ranch is no more. Steve Henson sold the brand to the Clorox company in 1972 for $8 million; in 2017, Hidden Valley products (there are more than 50) took in over $450 million, according to industry analysts.

Carol Skerbetz is the CEO at Hidden Valley .

A: I found flavor is pretty much the same but the new original container I just got has more salt: homestyle 45 mg vs original 60 mg. I can taste the difference. Great product for either version. Thank you for your feedback!

While many restaurants use mass produced ranch mix, they often add it to a higher-quality base. This might include milk, buttermilk, sour cream, or mayonnaise. So when you notice that the ranch in a restaurant tastes better than the bottled dressing from the store, what you're really tasting is delicious, creamy fat.

Vegetable oil (soybean and/or canola), water, buttermilk, sugar, less than 2% of: egg yolk, salt, lactic acid, vinegar, modified corn starch, disodium inosinate & guanylate, garlic (dried), onion (dried), phosphoric acid, monosodium glutamate, xanthan gum, natural and artificial flavors, spices, disodium phosphate, ...