[Objective] Fermentation process of hawthorn vinegar was investigated in order to explore the effect of process andobtain superior process of hawthorn vine- gar. [Method] Fermentation process of hawthorn vinegar was firstly optimized using Box-Behnken methodologyof 3-factor and 3-level, and the effect of process was an- alyzed. Secondly, it was also finished to build secondary multivariate regression model related to yield of acetic acid. [Results] The optimal fermentation process ob- tained by response surface methodology was as follows： inoculum size of 10%, or- iginal alcohol content of 7.0% and temperature of 30 ^（3. In optimal condition, yield of acetic acid was 51.76 g/L which was close to predicted value （51.77 g/L）. In the model, interaction of inoculum size and original alcohol content was extremely signif- icant. In contrast, interaction of others was non-significant. [Conclusion] Response surface methodology is advisable to be used for process optimization of hawthorn vinegar.
