Associated fields coming into a spreadsheet

I am creating an Excel spreadsheet with vba code in an Access database.
There are text values that go into the cells of the spreadsheet. Each value
has a number associated with it that I want to use to set the color of the
cell but which does not appear in the spreadsheet. How can I associate a
formatting with a cell?

Example:

Value/code

ABCDE/1
FGHIJK/2
LMNOP/1
QRSTU/1
VWXYZ/3

codes
1 - red
2 - blue
3 - green

In the spreadsheet, in the cell with ABCDE, the color of the cell should be
red. For FGHIJK, the color of the cell is blue. Etc..

Obviously we can't look up the color without the code. Any suggestions on
how to do this? The best way I've come up with is to use a recordset or an
array in the Access program.

Robert