There are two types of people in the world: those for whom romance conjures up images of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, and those for whom nothing is more beautiful than ranch dressing.
The latter are in luck: In honor of National Ranch Day (March 10), Hidden Valley Ranch – which invented the beloved salad dressing in the 1950s – has created a veritable diamond formed from its seasoning ranch.
The two-carat stone was grown in the lab for five months before being set in a 14-karat white gold band.
Starting today, the ring is up for grabs for the highest bidder, with the highest bid coming in at $10,950.
Hidden Valley Ranch had a Lab Diamond made from its beloved seasoning for National Ranch Day, March 10
The two-carat stone was grown in the lab for five months before being set in a 14-karat white gold band.
Ring is engraved with HVR LVR, or Hidden Valley Ranch Lovers
Hidden Valley Ranch enlisted Dean VandenBiesen, geologist and founder of LifeGem, to craft this one-of-a-kind diamond.
LifeGem creates lab-grown diamonds from the hair or ashes of cremated loved ones.
To make the diamond, the ranch seasoning was first heated to 2,500 degrees Celsius.
“We start with the ranch sample. We take that ranch sample and put it in a special oven,” VandenBiesen said. “It’s an oven capable of reaching 3,000 degrees centigrade.
‘Out of this process, it is transformed into graphite. And graphite is what it takes to get inside the diamond press to turn it into diamond.
Hidden Valley Ranch enlisted Dean VandenBiesen, geologist and founder of LifeGem, to craft this one-of-a-kind diamond
To make the diamond, the ranch seasoning was first heated to 2,500 degrees Celsius in a special oven.
It was turned into graphite, then put under 400 tons of pressure for months
The result was a G and VVS1 color stone, which was polished and shaped into a two carat brilliant cut stone.
The press applied 400 tons of pressure over several months, ultimately creating a diamond.
“In nature, it would take millions of years to create a diamond. In this case, we created the Hidden Valley Ranch Diamond in five months,” he said.
The result was a G and VVS1 color stone, which was polished and shaped into a two carat brilliant cut stone.
It was then set in a 14k white gold ring size 7.5, with HVR LVR – Hidden Valley Ranch Lover – engraved inside.
The final product is up for grabs now for ranch superfans, who can enter on TheRanchDiamond.com through March 17. By Thursday afternoon, it had reached a high bid of $10,950.
All proceeds will be donated to Feeding America.
How lab-grown diamonds are created using high heat and LOTS of pressure
By Hayley Richardson for Mailonline
Under extreme pressures and temperatures, carbon turns into diamonds.
Gary Ingram, CEO of TheDiamondStore.co.uk, explained the process to MailOnline, revealing: “Flakes of natural diamond are cut by a laser and placed in a chamber of a hydraulic press, roughly the size of a a space capsule.
“Graphite, a carbon-rich material, is placed in the chamber along with different metals to help vaporize the carbon.
“The chamber is superheated to around 1,400 degrees Celsius and pressurized to 5 GPa, the equivalent of the weight of 200 cars resting on the chamber.
“The vaporized carbon then rains down and attaches itself to the diamond seeds.”
The process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the desired size of the diamond to be grown.
During this time, it is impossible to check the condition of the diamonds – it only becomes clear once the chamber is opened.
“Success is not guaranteed,” Ingram warned.
In 2018, scientists grew one-carat diamonds in days at a lab in Cardiff, Wales, using only methane and hydrogen gas.
On Valentine’s Day 2021, Makayla popped the question to Halie with a one-of-a-kind bottle of ranch
The bottle label was red with hearts and said, “Halie, will you marry me?”
“Last year, when one of our personalized Valentine’s Day bottles was used in a marriage proposal, we were inspired,” Deb Crandall, director of marketing at Hidden Valley Ranch, said in a statement. Press.
“We’ve seen ranch love become part of one of life’s most beautiful moments. It made us wonder how to make that act of love even more memorable.
The proposal took place on Valentine’s Day 2021, when Makayla popped the question to Halie with a one-of-a-kind ranch bottle.
The bottle label was red with hearts and said, “Halie, will you marry me?”
Twitter users loved the proposal, with one writing that it was “all I want in life” and another tweeting: “PLEASE this is so cute”.
For National Ranch Day in 2018, Hidden Valley designed a special bottle decorated with gold, diamonds and sapphires, valued at $35,000.
Sapphires crept up the sides and around the neck, and the stopper was 18k white gold set with diamonds
In 2017, the brand offered shoppers the option to purchase a rhinestone-covered dressing bottle for $50.
For National Ranch Day in 2018, Hidden Valley designed a special bottle decorated with gold, diamonds and sapphires, which was valued at $35,000.
The bottle looked a bit like a fancy glass decanter except for the Hidden Valley Ranch logo on the front. Sapphires crept up the sides and around the neck, and the stopper was 18k white gold set with diamonds.
The bottle was released partly in honor of Prince Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle, and one was “sent on a trip overseas”, presumably to the couple.
The other was given to a lucky fan.
The year before, the brand offered shoppers the chance to purchase a rhinestone-covered dressing bottle for $50.
