This morning, I spent a fair amount of time clearing out excess growth of tomatoes in my little greenhouse. When I washed my hands, they turned very yellow. That had happened before but I did not know what the cause was. I thought that I had contacted nitrates from my nutrient solution and that it had somehow caused the yellow color the same way that exposure to nitrate does. I presumed that the alkaline soap was the proximate cause for turning a leuco compound yellow.
This time, after washing away the color, I went back out and handled the tomato plants some more. Hand washing brought out the yellow color again.
Is this typical of tomatoes? What is the substance involved?
Bill