A dried, crisp, puffed cheese food product and a process for making it is provided wherein surfaces of low fat cheese precursor pieces containing about 12 to about 24 percent moisture are contacted with polysaccharide, followed by tempering the coated pieces by holding them in a moisture-tight environment, prior to puffing the pieces into a shelf-stable savory crispy puffed cheese product. The sheath presents an opening extending around the inner periphery of the sheath and facing towards the spring axis. The process comprises emulsifying an internal phase comprising pigment particles or pigment-containing microparticles dispersed in a halogenated solvent and a halogenated shell-forming material into an external phase comprising a complementary chain extender or crosslinker in an organic solvent. In one embodiment, two pairs of spaced annuli are arranged on the core, wherein the axial length of the outermost annuli is half the axial length of the inner annuli.