It’s National Ranch Day, when we’re supposed to take time to appreciate ranch dressing and everything it does to make our lives better.  Here are a few stats and facts to help celebrate . . .

1.  Did you know Hidden Valley Ranch was a real place?  A guy named Steve Henson invented ranch dressing in the 1950s by mixing buttermilk with different herbs and spices.  He perfected it while living at a place called Hidden Valley Ranch near Santa Barbara, California.  And for the first few years, you could only order it through the mail.

2.  “The Chicago Tribune” ranked the best ranch dressings a while back, and put Hidden Valley at #1.  But a separate ranking by “professional” taste testers claimed Ken’s ranch dressing is better for dipping things like fries.

3.  Mashed.com claims Wingstop has the best fast food ranch, and McDonald’s ranked last.  A Wingstop employee actually went viral last month after people were shocked to find out there’s mayonnaise in ranch dressing.

4.  8% of Americans put ranch dressing on burgers . . . 36% think cold pizza dipped in ranch sounds good . . . and 20% have mixed ranch with salsa before.

5.  Ranch has been the best-selling salad dressing in the U.S. since 1992.  But Hidden Valley says only 30% of the dressing they sell is used on salads now.  The other 70% is used for dipping, or on other foods.