How Hidden Valley Ranch Became America's Favorite Condiment

Weird History Food would like to know if you want some Ranch with that. The flavor of ranch seems as though it's been around forever. But, it had to come from somewhere. That somewhere was a self-described cowboy from Nebraska who came west in the hope of making his fortune. Steve Henson invented what is known today as ranch dressing when he was looking for a way to keep a bunch of hungry construction workers happy.

#ranchdressing #hiddenvalleyranch #weirdhistoryfood

[AnalogWinter]

I don't have much to say about ranch dressing, but I just have to say that this man is in the top 5% of narrators on YouTube. Always keeps me coming back to this channel and Weird History. The editing is also always on point.

[noahb]

I grew up driving past Hidden Valley Road in Santa Barbara and always wondered if there was a connection there. We’d go to Cold Spring Tavern for tri tip on Sundays too! What a neat local history lesson

[DCYote]

I introduced my friend from The Netherlands to Ranch dressing when she visited the US. Apparently they have it over there, but it's called "American sauce" or "American flavor" but she liked the version over here better.

[btetschner]

A+ video!
Had no idea Hidden valley ranch has such a fascinating history!

[chloesmithwalker]

When I first moved to Arizona, folks would put ranch on pizza. I thought this was insane until I tried. Its good, especially the buttermilk ranch.

[stanford-nfjk]

One day my grocery store had their brand of Ranch dressing for like $1.50 cheaper and I ended up liking it better. However, for dipping chips, mixing the powder flavoring into sour cream is even better. The bottled variety is better for salads and veggie dipping.

[theoriginaledi]

This has been an intriguing topic to me for many years. When I was growing up in the '60s and '70s, my grandmother used to make HVR dressing from the original powder mix (which, I don't care what anyone says, is NOT the same today!) and buttermilk. For most of my life until I was fully an adult, I never really heard much about it, though both the powder and the liquid form became available in stores at some point. Then starting in the early '90s, suddenly it was EVERYWHERE, and today it's just about as ubiquitous as salt and black pepper. Such an odd and unexpected rise in popularity.

[moonprincesst.s.h.ever]

I love this narrator! Whoever he is, he deserves a huge rise! Every Weird History and Weird History Food video makes me actually laugh out loud and I learn something new every time. 😂🥰
Especially that recipes can't be copyrighted. 🤯

[SinisterMD]

Fascinating history to a condiment I've loved since I was a kid. Please keep these coming.

[angiehayes]

I'm from Wisconsin and here we use ranch on deep fried cheese curds yum! Love your channel!

[lp-xlld]

I had no idea ranch dressing was such a recent invention.

[THE-X-Force]

"Food lubricant" was perfect. Caught me off guard lol.

[Andrea-rwtf]

I have a 7 year old nephew that can tell you the difference in the ranches. He doesn’t like the oil based ones, he likes the dairy based ones.

[wesleyrussell]

hey I saw Jacob (carpetbagger) in there! Love the little cameos you guys put in all these videos. I think I saw beardmeatsfood in another vid of yours recently too

[blackamerican]

I know somewhere out there in the spirit world, Sally Kellerman is loving this video. 🙏

[DinoPwn]

My wife made home made ranch (from scratch) for my bday. Best bday gift ever

[btetschner]

Awesome Eric Andre clip in the beginning!
I often think of his Bird up! movement lol.

[kmstins]

Hahahaha! I don't know why but, I can't stop laughing about "Cool Clorox flavor Doritos". Thanks very much WHF for the morning humor! 😄😆🤣👍👏

[willdonnelly]

I spent a summer in Amsterdam a few years back, and there, they label "Cool Ranch" Doritos as "Cool American" Doritos. Maybe Ranch doesn't mean there what it means here? Not sure, but I love them either way!

[muppetsretrofan]

This was a fantastic video, Weird History! I love ranch [ironic as I DESPISE mayo], and I had no clue it had such an interesting story. Ranch ice cream on the other hand, is 🤢. I'm surprised it was Domino's Pizza that introduced the buffalo wings and ranch concept, but they've always been creative. Also Cool Ranch Doritos are the GOAT. If you ever do a video on the history of Domino's Pizza please talk about the post-Noid mascots as well [Donny and Dottie Domino, Bad Andy, Flying Buffalo], because they are just as interesting as the Noid [Ollie vs Domino's Pizza case over Donny Domino, and sales dropped during Bad Andy period]. Jack In The Box also has an interesting history, due to inventing several concepts [although they didn't invent the drive thru as they claim to, In N Out did it first], and their 1970s animated characters [including Jack himself] were voiced by none other then Paul Winchell, who is known as the voice of Tigger from Winnie The Pooh. There's some compilations of vintage JITB ads on YT for reference. I'd also love to see a video on Frito-Lay's history [from the original Frito Kid mascot, to Pepsi buying it out, to inventing all sorts of flavors].