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\\nHave you been curious about the history of ranch dressing? I was thinking about that this week. The origins of ranch dressing stretch back to the early 1950s. A genius developed this amazing salad dressing that has taken the culinary world by storm.
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\\nWho Was The Genius Behind Ranch?
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\\nSteve Henson created ranch dressing while working as a contractor in Alaska. He was a plumber turned cowboy who had a passion for this house dressing. In 1954 he opened a ranch with his wife, Gayle. The ranch opened in Santa Barbara County California. Steve and Gayle made sure to serve the ranch dressing to their customers. It quickly became popular enough to where they sold it in the bottle, ready to go, and as a seasoning to mix in with buttermilk and mayonnaise. 
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\\nThe history of ranch dressing continued as they moved into retail. The first store in Santa Barbara to sell the mix was Kelley\\u2019s Korner. It was selling so fast that the owner of the shop thought employees were stealing it. Demand continued to grow. So they decided to incorporate and start producing large quantities of stuff. They named the business after their ranch, Hidden Valley Ranch Food Products, Inc. 
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\\nClorox, Yes Clorox, Purchases The Recipe
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\\nOriginally ranch was distributed only in the Southwest United States. They gradually rolled it out nationwide. In 1972, Clorox purchased the Hidden Valley Ranch Brand for a cool $8 million. This is the equivalent of $45.6 million today.
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\\nGeneral Foods and Craft Foods quickly realized the popularity of ranch and rushed to put their own similar products on the market. During that time Clorox reformulated their seasoning packet to include buttermilk. This meant that the average consumer could mix regular milk with the mayo and still have a great result. They also developed other ranch flavors, which I will talk about in a minute. 
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\\nWhen Did The History of Ranch Dressing Really Gain Traction?
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\\nRanch really took off in the early 1980s when they developed a shelf stable version. That allowed for much easier distribution. From there, demand exploded. 
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\\nDuring the mid to late 80s, ranch became a common flavor in snack food. It made its debut most famously with Cool Ranch Doritos in 1986. Ranch dip also became a thing in the late 80s. People brilliantly discovered that broccoli and carrots tasted better if they were literally dripping with the cool ranch goodness. For me, that is what initially got me to eat my veggies. I needed a little broccoli with my ranch. After all, it wasn\\u2019t socially acceptable to just chug ranch by itself. You had to hide it with the ruse of eating veggies.
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\\nInteresting Ranch Facts:
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\\n* Speaking of chugging ranch, celebrities Melissa McCarthy and Courteney Cox have both been known to chug large quantities of ranch.* The average American will consume salad dressing 38 times a year. 15 of the 38 salad dressing moments contain ranch. Italian is a distant second at 6 out of 38 times.* Ranch soda exists. It is a thing and it sounds gross. Granted it comes from Lester\\u2019s Fixins Soda and they have a lot of weird flavors that they sell. But if you want a bottle it will only set you back $3.99. Any takers?* Ranch today doesn\\u2019t resemble Steve\\u2019s first crack at it. That is what a bunch of chemicals and lab engineering will get you. I like to think of this fact as the difference between ranch you might get at a restaurant vs. the bottle of hidden valley. They taste very different. * Since Hidden Valley Ranch launched, they have created over 70 different flavors of ranch. * Hidden Valley Ranch sold $440 million in ranch last year. That means that Steve\\u2019s humble ranch dressing has sparked a b...'