Although better known as “Ranch” dressing to most, buttermilk dressing is the original name of this American classic developed in 1954 by Gayle and Steve Henson. The couple owned and ran Hidden Valley Guest Ranch, a dude ranch (of sorts) outside of Santa Barbara, where folks came to hike, fish and go horseback riding. It was a favorite hot spot for UCLA and UCSB students in the 50s and early 60s.
The Story Behind Ranch Dressing
In 1949, Steve worked in Alaska as a plumbing contractor in remote areas of the frozen outback with a crew of workers. It was there that he created his dressing concoction to improve the salads and the morale of the men he fed. “It’s tough to feed men in those bush jobs,” Henson said. “If they don’t like something, they’re as likely to throw it at the cook as they are to walk out cursing. I had to come up with something to keep them happy.” His secret? He mixed mayonnaise with buttermilk and whipped it until it had a creamy consistency and added a little seasoning and herbs.
When Steve returned to California in the early 50s, his dream was to own a dude ranch, and eventually found the perfect parcel of land outside of Santa Barbara. The 120-acre ranch, originally called Sweetwater Ranch, boasted natural springs, a waterfall and was surrounded by a creek. It was once a stagecoach stop for trips between San Francisco and Los Angeles in earlier days. Steve renamed the ranch “Hidden Valley.”
Steve was a born entertainer. He loved to sing and regale folks with stories about his early life adventures. His wife, Gayle, cooked meals, and played the organ after dinner for guests. The “dude ranch” evolved into something between nightclub, motel and ranch – the only “advertising” was word-of-mouth by guests. Despite regular guests and large company parties, it wasn’t a sustainable plan. By the mid 1960s, the Henson’s savings were almost wiped out and they needed to make more money.
Everyone who visited Hidden Valley Ranch enjoyed the meals, but it was the homemade salad dressing, the only one that they served, that guests loved. Guests frequently asked for jars of the delicious buttermilk dressing to take home for friends and family to try.
Steve’s neighbor, Audrey Ovington, owned and operated the Cold Spring Tavern on Stagecoach Road in Santa Barbara. After concocting a large batch of dressing, Steve asked her for her input. She tasted it, loved it, and promptly added it to the menu, making her restaurant the first to serve ranch dressing.
As the story goes, a guest visiting from Hawaii placed an order for 300 jars of dressing for a party he was giving. Steve, realizing he didn’t have 300 jars, decided to package individual envelopes of the dry spice mix for his guest to take home to the islands with the instructions to blend each packet with a quart of mayonnaise and a quart of buttermilk. The man called again in a week for another order.
Realizing a business opportunity, the Hensons started to package and sell their dry seasoning mix as a side business. One of their first orders went to Kelly’s Korner, a small grocery store in Santa Barbara. Doubting that there was a real market for the product, the owner purchased only four-dozen packages of the Ranch seasoning mix. The packets sold out within hours.
A part of Hidden Valley Ranch was converted into a packaging facility to meet the increasing mail order sales. Very little, if any, advertising was done. Customers learned about the product word-of-mouth and soon they were shipping to customers all over the US and in more than 30 countries.
Eventually, the spice packaging was contracted out to a food processor in Los Angeles that could bag 35,000 packages in 8 hours vs. the machine Henson had developed that could fill only a few thousand an hour. The business headquarters was moved to Sparks, Nevada, where the Henson’s son and daughter took over running the business.
“The orders were humongous,” said Steve. “What started out as a lark became a multimillion dollar industry.”
In 1972, Clorox purchased the brand for $8 million and trademarked the name “Ranch.”
Packages of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mixes continued to be sold as well as a fresh version in jars in the refrigeration section of grocery markets. However, in the 1980s, Clorox reformulated the bottled dressing to create a more convenient to use, non-refrigerated shelf stable product to capture more of the salad dressing market. Of course, that included adding many new ingredients, including flavorings, preservatives and stabilizers.
By 1992, Ranch dressing became the nation’s top selling salad dressing and condiment.
How to Make Your Own Buttermilk Dressing
Fresh buttermilk dressing takes only minutes to make from scratch–so why buy it? When you make it yourself, the fresh herbs really stand out, and there’s no MSG or calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate to worry about!
Using a basic recipe, you can also create your own signature flavors by making a few adjustments to ingredients for your summer salads. Buttermilk dressing keeps well up to 10 days, so make a double batch if you enjoy salads daily.
CREAMY BUTTERMILK DRESSING
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup mayonnaise
(use Best Foods)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, mashed and minced
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced
1 tablespoon fresh dill
, minced
METHOD:
In a medium bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, buttermilk, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic. Whisk until smooth. Add garlic and onion powder, salt and sugar and whisk to combine thoroughly. Whisk in pepper and fresh herbs. Pour into quart jar with tight cover and refrigerate.
VARIATIONS:
- Add 1 cup crumbled Roquefort or other blue veined cheese. Replace dill with fresh thyme.
- Use lemon juice instead of vinegar, and add grated lemon zest. Substitute marjoram, lemon thyme or tarragon for the herbs.
- Use lime juice instead of vinegar, and add grated lime zest, 1 tablespoon minced cilantro and a little minced fresh jalapeno pepper for a Mexican style taco salad with corn, black beans, corn chips, etc.
- Use 1-2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
- No fresh herbs? Substitute 1/2 teaspoon dried chives, dried dill weed and dried parsley.
No buttermilk? Use 1/2 cup sour cream. Thin with milk, if necessary.
