A method of forming edible colored particles is provided that includes providing a plurality of edible non-hygroscopic particles, spraying the plurality of non-hygroscopic particles with an aqueous color system in a coating pan to obtain a plurality of coated particles, tumbling the plurality of coated particles concurrently during at least a portion of the spraying step and drying the plurality of coated particles in the coating pan. The resulting coated particles have a colored exterior and that exhibit resistance to color bleed in environments having a relative humidity up to the hygroscopic limit of the non-hygroscopic particles.
