Ranch dressing

Ranch dressing is a type of salad dressing made of some combination of buttermilk, salt, garlic, onion, herbs (commonly chives, parsley, and dill), and spices (commonly black pepper, paprika, and ground mustard seed), mixed into a sauce based on mayonnaise or another oil emulsion. Sour cream and yogurt are sometimes used as a substitute by some home cooks or to create a lower-fat version. Ranch dressing has been the best-selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992, when it overtook Italian dressing. It is also popular as a dip.

History

In the early 1950s, Steve Henson developed what is now known as ranch dressing while working as a plumbing contractor for three years in the remote Alaskan bush. In 1954, he and his wife Gayle opened Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California, where they served it to guests. It became popular, and they began selling it in packages for guests to take home, both as a finished product and as packets of seasoning to be mixed with mayonnaise and buttermilk. As demand grew, they incorporated Hidden Valley Ranch Food Products, Inc., and opened a factory to manufacture it in larger volumes, which they first distributed to supermarkets in the Southwest, and eventually, nationwide. In October 1972, the Hidden Valley Ranch brand was bought by Clorox for $8 million.

Valley Ranch

Valley Ranch is the name of some places in the United States:

Hidden Valley

Hidden Valley can refer to:

Places

Hidden Valley (New Jersey)

Hidden Valley was a ski resort in Vernon Township, New Jersey off of County Route 515, near the intersection with Route 94, approximately an hour's drive from the George Washington Bridge.

History

The resort opened in 1976. In 2007 the resort, after years of struggling to compete with the nearby and much larger Mountain Creek, declared bankruptcy and was sold at a sheriff's auction. A group of investors bought it at auction with the intention of turning it into an all-inclusive resort. After an unusually warm winter in 2011 and numerous problems throughout, it was once again put up for liquidation auction in the fall of 2013. It failed to sell at auction, and did not open for the 2013/2014 ski season.

In February of 2014, the National Winter Activity Center (NWAC) began operating at the former Hidden Valley site. According to a post on the NWAC website:

"what is happening on the slopes of the former Hidden Valley ski area may become one of the most ground-breaking beginner learning and conversion programs of all. Aimed at kids aged 7 to 17 who are not familiar with (or able to afford access to) the world of winter sports, the new low-cost learn-to-ski/ snowboard center incorporates a little bit of everything, including learning programs based on specific terrain characteristics, to get newcomers hooked on the sport quickly..."

Hidden Valley (Ski Estes Park)

Hidden Valley, also known as Ski Estes Park, was a ski area near Estes Park, Colorado. It became owned by the National Park Service, which eventually closed it in 1991.

Hidden Valley (or Ski Estes Park) was a local ski area attraction from 1955 - 1991, off of Trail Ridge Road, now in defunct status.

The National Park Service seemed reluctant about opening it at all, and seemed to have succumbed to local pressure. NPS landscape architect Harold G. Fowler happened to be involved in assessing its feasibility.

See also

References