I got a Hickory Farms box over the holidays (as a gift), and it included a brick of "smoked cheddar/swiss", a processed cheese that was "naturally" smoked. Yesterday we decided to use it on baked potatoes, and were startled to find out that it doesn't melt, at all. Even after 10 minutes in a 325F oven*, it looked pretty much the same as when I first grated it.
Now, I'm used to thinking of processed cheese being super-melty. Velveeta is the queen of melty cheeses, down to the point of folks making their own fake Velveeta to have something for cheeseburgers. And I'm used to high-salt and/or "cooked" cheeses (like paneer) being non-melty, but this was neither of those.
What do manufacturers like Hickory Farms do, or add to, processed cheese that causes it to not melt? And why?
(* for comparison, real American cheddar melts after 5 minutes in a 325F oven)