Over the past several years, I have noticed the same symptoms you described. However, I have also noticed that the smell occurs through out the winter for me and tends to disappear in the summer months where humidity is high here. The reason I point this out is that my hands are very dry in winter months and I am constantly fighting the cracked skin with lotion or ointments. I have come to the conclusion (after a class in microbiology) that the smell must be due to bacteria that breakdown the dead and skin give off chemicals in the process. Same process as underarm or foot odor.
Our skin typically has bacteria residing on it, just like you have them in your intestines, and they perform nessecary functions like breakdown of toxins. I think the fact that the skin on my hands is so dry causes a "bloom" of these bacteria because there is so much for them to feast on. I have also noticed that using hand cream before bedtime makes it worse - not sure why that is though.

I get this do. The palms of my hands sometimes smell. I can`t quite describe the smell. I`ve not norrowed it down yet but I think it`s when I eat certain foods.